LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

University  of  California. 

GIF-X  OK 

Y.  M.  0.  A.  Or  i;.  Q 

Accession f.ylSSG         Class 

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,#*^ 


THE 

PAROUSIA: 

A  CRITICAL  STUDY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURE  DOCTRINES  OF  CHRIST'S 

SECOND  COMING ;     HIS  REIGN  AS  KING ;     THE 

RESURRECTION  OF  THE  DEAD  ;  AND 

THE  GENERAL  JUDGMENT. 

— duvdixetq  [isXXovTO(;  alcbvo^. — Heb.  6:  5. 


BY 

ISRAEL  p.  WARREN,  D.-D. 

w 

"Theologically,  the  way  has  been  prepared  for  an  entire  revision 
of  the  domain  of  Eschatology."— Hagenbach,  Hist,  of  Doct.,11  p.  522. 

"Let  no  man,  taking  the  credit  of  a  sobriety  and  moderation  ill 
applied,  think  or  maintain  that  men  can  search  too  far  in  the  Book  of 
God's  "Word;  but  rather,  let  them  excite  themselves  to  the  search,  and 
boldly  let  them  advance  in  the  pursuit  of  an  endless  progress  in  it: 
only  taking  heed  lest  they  apply  their  knowledge  to  arrogance  and 
not  to  charity,  to  ostentation  and  not  to  use." — Lord  Bacon. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

HOYT,  FOGG  &   DONHAM, 
Portland,  Me. 


Copyright,  1879, 
BY  ISRAEL  P.  WARREN. 


Wm.  M.  Marks,   Printer, 


PREFACE 


It  is  with  the  utmost  diffidence  that  I  give  this  book  to  the 
public.  The  peculiar  nature  of  the  subject,  the  wide  diversity 
of  opinions  concerning  it  among  Christians,  and  the  oft-ex- 
pressed sentiment  that  any  one  who  pretends  to  much  confi- 
dence as  to  what  the  Scriptures  design  to  teach  us  in  relation 
to  it  betrays  a  lack  of  mental  sobriety,  if  not  of  sanity,  might 
well  deter  men  of  far  greater  professional  ability  than  myself 
from  anything  so  rash.  But  having,  after  many  years  of  study 
begun  under  the  most  painful  perplexities,  attained  certain 
views  of  the  subject  which  afford  great  satisfaction  to  my  own 
mind,  I  cannot  resist  the  feeling  that  others  similarly  perplexed 
may  possibly  be  equally  relieved  by  a  statement  of  those  views 
and  the  grounds  on  which  they  are  based.  That  feeling  has 
been  much  strengthened  by  the  favor  with  which  some  articles 
on  the  Parousia  published  a  year  or  two  ago  in  the  Christiait 
MiKROR  were  received,  and  the  very  frequent  requests  since 
made  that  they  might  be  printed  in  a  more  permanent  form. 

I  am  not  vain  enough  to  expect  that  all,  perhaps  not  even 
many,  will  accept  the  views  here  set  forth.  Some  will  reject 
them  outright,  without  investigation.  Many  others  will  stand 
in  doubt,  or  more  actively  oppose  them,  because  in  a  few  re- 
spects— matters  of  form  and  costume  chiefly — they  differ  some- 
what from  the  more  commonly  accepted  views.  Still,  I  venture 
to  crave  a  candid  hearing  from  all,  and  an  unprejudiced  com- 
parison of  the  positions  taken  with  the  Scriptures,  "whether 
these  things  are  so."  And  if  there  be  a  seeming  of  presumption 
in  venturing  to  publish  any  views  on  such  a  subject,  let  this  be 
my  apology,  that  God  has  taken  many  ages  and  used  many 
builders  in  rearing  up  the  edifice  of  Christian  truth,  and  though 
all  may  not  be  master  builders,  yet  each  one,  even  the  humblest, 
may  bring  his  brick,  which  the  great  Proprietor  will  find  a  place 
for. 

One  or  two  remarks  I  maybe  permitted  to  make  as  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  interpretation  which  have  guided  me  in  this  inquiry. 

The  first  is  to  have  primary  regard  to  the  ideas  and  modes  of 
speaking  current  among  the  Jews  in  Christ's  day.  Says  Prof. 
Stuart,  in  his  Letters  to  Channing,  "Nothing  is  clearer  to  my 
apprehension  than  that  God,  when  he  speaks  to  men,  speaks  in 
language  which  is  used  by  those  whom  headdresses."    Having  for 

101826 


IV  PREFACE. 

fifteen  hundred  years  been  trained  under  the  expectation  of  a 
coming  Messiah  and  of  what  he  would  do  for  them  and  the 
world,  their  language  concerning  him  had  to  a  considerable 
extent  become  technical  and  special.  Of  course,  our  Lord  and 
his  apostles  conformed  to  the  usage  of  their  countrymen,  and 
"we  can  know  their  meaning  only  by  making  ourselves  for  the 
time  being  one  with  them.  It  is  the  violation  of  this  principle, 
T  cannot  doubt,  which  has  led  to  most  of  the  confusion  apper- 
taining to  the  common  views  of  eschatology.  What  sort  of 
knowledge  would  be  gained  of  our  own  times  by  writers  living 
two  thousand  years  hence  who  should  utterly  ignore  our  pecul- 
iar theories  and  phrases  in  politics,  philosophy  and  religion, 
and  persist  in  interpreting  them  according  to  the  ideas  that 
should  prevail  at  that  time  ? 

Further  than  this,  I  have  not  believed  that  any  peculiar 
modes  of  interpretation  were  requisite.  I  have  never  seen  any 
reason  why  the  Bible  should  not  be  read  precisely  like  any 
other  book, — I  mean,  of  course,  if  there  be  only  a  reverent 
recognition  of  its  Divine  origin,  and  a  deep  spiritual  sympathy 
with  its  sacred  themes.  Its  meaning  is  that  of  its  words,  in 
their  plain  historico-grammatical  sense  modified  only  by  the 
figures  of  speech  common  to  all  languages,  and  the  local 
Jewish  usage  above  referred  to.  All  peculiar  theories  of 
symbolism,  and  type,  and  double  sense,  and  the  like,  which 
seem  contrived  to  fit  the  Scriptures  to  opinions  already  formed 
rather  than  to  be  safe  guides  to  their  formation,  lam  obliged  to 
regard  as  both  unwarranted  and  mischievous. 

With  this,  it  has  seemed  to  me,  there  should  be  joined 
a  reasonable  degree  of  hermeneutical  independence.  Protes- 
tants, at  least,  believe  not  only  in  the  right  but  the  duty  of  pri- 
vate judgment.  While  fully  recognizing  the  claims  of  authority, 
and  deferring,  as  is  most  proper,  to  the  opinions  of  scholars, 
and  especially  to  the  statements  of  venerable  creeds  and  formu- 
laries, I  cannot  forget  that  these  have  not,  in  fact,  been  infal- 
lible guides,  but  that  notwithstanding  them  doubt,  diversity, 
and  distrust  still  envelope  the  whole  field  of  eschatology.  Is 
there  not  a  better  guide  for  a  simple  inquirer  after  truth  to  be 
found  under  the  enlightenment  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  con- 
victions of  plain  common  sense, — the  syneidesis  of  every  man, 
to  which  the  great  apostle  strove  to  commend  himself  and  his 
teachings  in  the  sight  of  God  ? 

I  shall  welcome  from  every  source  whatever  light  will  serve 
to  correct  any  error  into  which  I  may  have  fallen,  and  give  to 
the  church  a  deeper  and  more  fruitful  knowledge  of  the  Divine 
teachings  as  to  the  coming  and  kingdom  of  our  Lord. 

PoBTLAND,  January,  1879. 


CONTENTS 


PilEFACE, 


Page  iii. 


PAKT  I. 

THE  PAEOUSIA. 

Chap.  I.    The  Term  and  its  Signification,  9 

Chap.  II.    The  N'ature  of  the  Parousia,  17 

Chap.  III.    The  Time  of  the  Parousia,  25 

Section  1.     Testimony  of  Christ,  25 

1.  Its  precise  date  not  disclosed,  25 

2.  But  very  near,  26 
Section  2.  Testimony  of  the  four  Disciples,  31 
Section  3.  Testimony  of  Paul,  34 
Section  4.     The  testimony  weighed,  41 

_  1.     Eemoteness  never  asserted,  42 

The  language  simple,  43 

How  understood  by  those  who  heard  it,  48 

How  understood  by  the  primitive  churches,  51 

The  logical  requirements  of  the  language,  58 

Section  5.     Objections  to  this  view,  55 

1.     The  Parousia  did  not  in  fact  occur,  55 

The  physical  phenomena  did  not  occur,  58 

The  resurrection  and  judgment  did  not  occur,       58 

A  visible  coming  did  not  occur,  61 

The  Man  of  Sin  was  not  revealed,  65 

The  Scope  of  the  Parousia,  73 

The  Costume  of  the  Parousia,  80 

The  Imagery  of  Inauguration,               "  80 

The  Imagery  of  Destruction,  89 


2. 


4. 

5. 

Chap.  IV. 

Chap.  Y. 

Section  1. 

Section  2. 


Yl  CONTENTS. 


PART  II. 


CHRIST  AS  KING. 

The  general  view,  100 

Chap.  I.    Christ's  Accession  to  the  throne,  103 

Chap.  II.    His  coming  in  his  kingdom,  106 

Chap.  III.    The  Kingdom  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  112 

Chap.  IY.    Persecution,  116 

Section  1.    By  Judaism,  121 

Section  2.    By  Paganism,                           .  125 

Section  3.     The  Binding  of  Satan,  127 

Section  4.     GrOg  and  Magog,  137 

Section  5.    Resurrection  of  the  Martyrs,  143 

Section  6.     Judgment  of  the  Dead,  153 

Chap.  Y.     The  agfe  of  Conquest,  159 

Growth  the  law  of  progress,  161 

1.  Affirmed  by  Christ,  161 

2.  Confirmed  by  History,  162 

3.  Illustrated  by  Geology,  163 
The  several  Stages  of  Progress,  165 

1.  Christianity  is  to  become  universal,  165 

2.  Christianity  is  to  become  the  sole  religion,     166 

3.  Christianity  is  to  be  greatly  intensified,  167 

4.  Christianity  is  to  pervade  all  forces,  169 
Chap.  YL  The  Consummation,  171 
Chap,  YII.    The  Perpetuity  of  Christ's  Kingdom,  176 

1.  Declared  to  be  without  end,  179 

2.  Given  to  Christ  as  his  reward,  183 

3.  Given  to  him  as  his  inheritance,  184 

4.  Is  the  reward  of  his  saints,  184 

5.  Implied  in  his  eternal  priesthood,  "    185 

6.  Further  change  denied,  185 
Chap.  YIII.    The  End  of  the  World— 2  Peter  3:  3—13,  188 

1.  This  language  not  scientific,  192 

2.  No  annihilation  of  the  universe,  193 

3.  Will  not  cease  to  be  the  abode  of  man,  194 

4.  Refers  to  the  Jewish  aion,  or  dispensation,    199 

1.  It  was  to  pass  away,  199 

2.  With  a  great  noise,  199 

3.  With  grand  physical  phenomena,  200 

4.  Was  for  the  time  "reserved,"  200 


CONTENTS. 


Mi 


5.  Was  to  occur  at  the  Parousia, 

6.  Was  to  be  expected  and  watched  for, 

7.  The  elements  were  to  be  dissolved, 

8.  Identical  with  Rev.  6 :  12-17, 

9.  The  teachings  of  Reason  and  Science, 
Chap.  IX.     The  New  Jerusalem, 

1.  Was  expected  soon, 

2.  Correspondence  with  O.  T.  prophecies, 

3.  Relations  to  the  rest  of  the  world, 

4.  The  wicked  remaining  outside, 

PART  III. 

CHKIST  AS  LIFE-GIVER. 

Chap.  I.    The  Anastasis, 

Section  1.     The  testimony  of  science. 
Section  2.    The  testimony  of  the  Scriptures, 

1.  The  three-fold  nature  of  man, 

2.  Relation  between  soul  and  spirit, 

3.  The  psychical  man, 

4.  Examination  of  1  Cor.  15 :  35-53, 
Section  3.    Relation  to  regeneration, 
Section  4.     The  time  of  the  resurrection, 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

Chap.  II. 

Section  1. 
Section  2. 


Evidence  from  man's  constitution, 

Evidence  from  his  immortality, 

Evidence  from  the  nature  of  a  resurrection. 

Evidence  from  the  nature  of  Christ's  office, 

Christ's  declaration  to  Martha, 

Analogy  of  the  germinating  seed, 

Christ's  reply  to  the  Sadducees, 

The  Transfiguration, 

The  promise  of  being  with  Christ, 

Expectation  of  the  early  Christians, 

Rom.  8:  18-25, 

2  Cor.  4:  14—5:  10, 

Relation  to  the  Parousia, 
The  Prepared  Place, 
Rising  of  the  Dead  in  Christ, 


Section  3.    The  change  of  the  Living, 

1.  They  do  not  all  sleep, 

2.  They  are  changed  instantaneously, 


200 
201 
201 
202 
203 
207 
209 
210 
211 
213 


217 
219 
227 
227 
228 
228 
229 
233 
233 
238 
289 
241 
242 
243 
243 
245 
248 
249 
250 
251 
252 
255 
255 
258 
263 
264 
265 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

3.  They  are  caught  up  into  the  air,  266 

4.  Are  with  the  risen  dead,  265 

5.  Both  events  are  at  the  Parousia,  267 
Contrast  with  the  traditional  view,  267 

Chap.  III.     The  Kesurrection  Life,  273 

1.  Probable  preservation  of  the  human  form,     273 

2.  Probable  preservation  of  the  features,  274 

3.  Conditions  of  society  realized,  275 

4.  Present  relationships  continued,  275 

5.  The  heavenly  world  near  to  us,  277 

6.  Yet  higher  than  the  present,  278 

PART  ly. 

CHEIST  THE   JUDGE. 

General  Statement,  281 

Section  1.     Costume  of  the  Judgment,  282 

Section  2.     The  Time  of  the  Judgment,  284 

Objections  to  the  common  view,  285 

1.  Evidence  from  the  nature  of  Christ's  Office,  286 

2.  Evidence  from  the  nature  of  man,  287 

3.  Evidence  from  the  nature  of  probation,  288 

4.  Evidence  from  the  language  of  Scripture,  288 
Section  3.  The  Awards  of  the  Judgment,  295 
Future  Punishment,  295 

CONCLUSION. 

Summary  of  the  doctrine,  297 

1.  Neither  a  praeterist  nor  a  futurist  view,  298 

2.  It  harmonizes  the  words  of  Scripture,  298 

3.  It  conserves  all  essential  truths,  301 

4.  It  imparts  to  them  increased  meaning,  302 

APPENDIX. 

aebhardt  on  the  "Coming,"  304 

Dollinger  on  the  Man  of  Sin,  304 

Grotius  on  Gog  and  Magog,  311 


PART    I. 


THE     PAROUSIA 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  TERM  AND  ITS  SIGNIFICATION. 

The  term  employed  in  the  New  Testament  to  de- 
note the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  is,  in  the  original, 
The  Pakousia.  "What  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy 
Parousiaf'  Matt.  24:  3.  "So  also  shall  be  the 
Parousia  of  the  Son  of  Man."  Matt.  24 :  27,  37,  39. 
It  will  be  our  first  endeavor  to  ascertain  its  exact 
meaning. 

How  the  word  came  to  be  used  in  this  special 
application  is  not  known.  I  am  not  aware  that  the 
Jews  had  ever  been  accustomed  to  apply  it  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  expected  Messiah.  It  is  found  but 
twice  in  the  Septuagint  (2  Mace.  8 :  12 ;  15 :  21),  and 
there  only  in  its  ordinary  secular  meaning.  In  the 
New  Testament,  it  first  occurs  in  this  inquiry  of  the 
four  disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  They  had 
now  become  in  a  degree  familiar  with  the  idea  that 
their  Lord  was  about  to  leave  them  for  a  time  and  af- 
terwards return,  and  that  he  would  then  set  up  the 
2 


10  THE  PAROUSIA. 

kingdom  they  were  looking  for,  and  reward  therein 
his  faithful  friends  who  had  followed  him  unto  death. 
Matt.  16 :  27,  28.  Their  conceptions  were  indeed 
very  imperfect,  but  such  as  they  were,  they  awoke  in 
them  the  highest  expectation,  and  prompted  to  un- 
seemly rivalries  for  the  foremost  place  in  its  honors. 
Contrasting,  then,  that  eagerly  expected  period  with 
the  brief  duration  of  his  present  stay  with  them,  they 
seem  to  have  fondly  named  it  The  Presence^  as  im- 
plying that  he  would  thereafter  permanently  remain 
with  them,  and  admit  them  into  an  intimacy  of  inter- 
course and  of  relations  surpassing  all  they  had  before 
enjoyed. 

It  matters  little,  however,  in  what  way  the  word 
came  to  be  used  by  the  disciples  in  this  sense,  for  it 
was  immediately  sanctioned  and  confirmed  by  Christ 
himself.  Thrice  does  he  employ  it  in  the  same  sense, 
in  the  discourse  that  follows.  Like  the  lightning 
which  fills  the  whole  heaven  with  its  splendor,  and 
like  the  deluge  which  surprised  the  old  world  in  the 
midst  of  its  business  and  its  pleasures,  "  so  likewise," 
he  declares,  "shall  be  the  Parousia  of  the  Son  of 
man." 

The  signification  of  the  word  is  the  Being  with^  or 
the  Presence.  It  is  derived  from  the  compound  verb 
Trdpei/ui^  from  napd  with,  and  £i/u  to  be.  Instances 
of  the  use  of  this  verb  in  the  New  Testament  are  the 
following :  "  There  were  present  at  that  season  some 
that  told  him  of  the  Galileans."  Luke  13 :  1. — Cer- 
tain Jews  who  ought  to  have  been  here  before  thee." 
Acts  24:  19. — "  I  verily  *     *  have  judged  already  as 


THE  TEBM  AND  SIGNIFICATION.  11 

though  I  were  present,''''  1  Cor.  5 :  3. — "  I  beseech 
you  that  I  may  not  be  bold  when  I  am  present^^  etc. 
2  Cor.  10  :  2. — "  I  told  you  before,  and  foretell  you  as 
if  I  were  present  the  second  time."  2  Cor.  13 :  2. — 
"  I  desire  to  he  present  with  you  and  to  change  my 
voice."  Gal.  4:  20. — The  word  paronsia  is  twice 
translated  presence  in  our  version.  "  His  bodily 
presence  is  weak."  2  Cor.  10 :  10. — As  ye  have  always 
obeyed,  not  as  in  my  presence  only  but  now  much 
more  in  my  absence.  Phil.  2 :  12. — If  the  translators 
had  been  uniform  in  their  renderings,  they  would  used 
the  same  word  in  the  following  instances.  "I  am 
glad  of  the  coming  (the  presence^  of  Stephanas 
and  Fortunatus  and  Achaicus."  1  Cor.  16 :  17. 
"  God  *  *  comforted  us  by  the  coming  (^presence}  of 
Titus ;  and  not  by  his  coming  (^presence')  only."  2 
Cor.  7 :  6-7.  "  That  our  rejoicing  may  be  more 
abundant  in  Jesus  Christ  for  me  by  my  coming  to  you 
again  "  (by  my  presence  again  with  you).  Phil.  1 :  26. 
The  only  remaining  instances  of  its  use  in  the  New 
Testament  are  the  following,  in  all  which  it  refers  to 
what  is  called  Christ's  second  coming.  "Christ  the 
first  fruits,  afterward  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his 
coming"  (in  his  Presence}.  1  Cor.  15  :  23. — "What 
is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown  of  rejoicing?  Are  not 
even  ye  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at 
his  coming"  (before  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his 
Presence}.  1  Thess.  2:  19. — "At  the  coming  (in  the 
Presence}  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  his 
saints."  1  Thess.  3:  13. — "We  which  are  alive  and 
remain  unto  the  coming  (the  Presence}  of  the  Lord. 


12  THE  PAROUSIA. 

1  Thess  4 :  15. — Preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming 
(the  Presence')  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  1  Thess. 
5  :  23. — "  Now  we  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  com- 
ing (the  Presence')  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  2 
Thess.  2 :  1. — "  And  shall  destroy  with  the  brightness 
of  his  coming"  (his  Presence).  2  Thess.  2:  8. — "Be 
patient  therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming  (the 
Presence)  of  the  Lord.  The  coming  (^Presence)  of 
the  Lord  draweth  nigh."  Jas.  5  :  7,  8. — "  We  made 
known  to  you  the  power  and  coming  (^Presence)  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  2  Pet.  1 :  16.—"  Where  is 
the  promise  of  his  coming?"  (^Presence).  2  Pet.  3 :  4. 
— "Looking  for  and  hasting  [unto]  the  coming 
(^Presence)  of  the  day  of  the  Lord."  2  Pet.  3 :  12.— 
"  We  may  have  confidence  and  not  be  ashamed  before 
him  at  his  coming  "  (in  his  Presence).  1  John  2 :  28. 
It  is  important  to  observe  that  in  all  the  instances 
thus  cited  the  word  is  accompanied  in  the  original  by 
the  article  the^  which  in  Greek  is  distinctive  and  em- 
phatic,— implying  that  it  is,  in  some  sense,  a  special 
and  unique  presence,  to  be  distinguished  from  all 
others.  Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  term  is  never 
applied  to  his  first  advent,  when  he  dwelt  among  men 
in  the  flesh.  That  was  indeed  a  coming  to  men,  a  so- 
journ with  them,  but  it  is  never  called  The  Parousia. 
Nor  is  the  word  "  second  "  ever  joined  to  it,  as  if  im- 
plying that  there  was  a  first.  We  often  speak  of  the 
"  second  advent,"  the  "  second  coming,"  etc.,  but  the 
Scriptures  never  speak  of  a  "second  Parousia." 
Whatever  was  to  be  its  nature,  it  was  something  pe- 
culiar, having  never  occurred  before,  and  being  never 


THE  TERM  AND  SIGNIFICATION.  13 

to  occur  again.  It  was  to  be  a  presence  differing 
from  and  superior  to  all  other  manifestations  of  him- 
self to  men,  so  that  its  designation  should  properly 
stand  by  itself,  without  any  qualifying  epithet  other 
than  the  article, — The  Pkesence.* 

*This  view  of  the  meaning  of  the  word  is  sustained  by  the 
most  eminent  scholars. 

"Parousia;  properly,  the  being  or  hecoming  present:  i.  e.  (a) 
presence.  2  Cor.  10:  10 — (b)  a  coming,  advent, — etc." — Lexicon, 
sub  voce. — Dr.  Bobinson. 

'*  Here  again  our  translation  misleads.  Parousia  means  not 
coming ;  it  means  presence,  being  present,  as  is  plain  by  refer- 
ring to  its  root,  pareimi,  I  am  present.  The  taking  of  all  these 
things  so  as  to  be  seen  is  of  itself  complete  proof  of  the 
presence  (not  ocularly  visible  presence,  but  presence  in  the 
scriptural  sense)  of  Christ."  Bib.  Sac.  Yol.  xi.  p.  455.— Pro/. 
M.  Stuart. 

"The  word  Parousia  (presence)  is  the  ordinary  expression 
for  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord. — With  the  classic  authors 
parousia  commonly  signifies  presence;  it  has  the  same  meaning 
sometimes  in  the  N".  T.,  in  the  writings  of  Paul  (2  Cor.  10: 10; 
Phil.  1 :  26 ;  2 :  12 ;  2  Thess.  2:9);  in  other  cases  it  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  advent,  and  once  (2  Pet.  1 :  16)  the  incarnation  of  the 
Kedeemer  as  applied  to  his  first  coming."  Yol.  ii.  p.  228. — 
Olshausen. 

"  Not  the  brightness  of  his  coming,  as  very  many  commenta- 
tors, and  the  English  version,  but  the  mere  outburst  of  his 
presence  shall  bring  the  adversary  to  naught."  Compare  2 
Thess.  2:8.— Alford. 

"  The  inquiry  involves  three  questions.  1.  When  shall  these 
(things)  be,  and  what  the  sign  when  they  shall  happen?  2.  And 
what  the  sign  of  thy  presence  f  "  Com.  Matt.  24 :  3. — Dr.  Hales, 
quoted  approvingly  by  Bloomjield. 

"  Porro  quaerunt,  quodnam  presentiae  Christi  futurum  esse 
signum?"  (They  ask  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  Christ's 
presence?)     Com.  Matt.  24:  3. — BosenmuUer. 

"  As  Christ's  first  sojourn  with  humanity  was  also  an  appear- 
ing, the  future  manifestation  is  often  distinguished  as  his  '  glo- 


14  THE  PAROUSIA. 

From  this  view  of  the  word  it  is  evident,  I  think, 
that  neither  the  English  word  "coming"  nor  the 
Latin  "  advent "  is  the  best  representative  of  the 
original.  They  do  not  conform  to  its  etymology; 
they  do  not  correspond  to  the  idea  of  the  verb  from 
which  it  is  derived ;  nor  could  they  appropriately  be 
substituted  for  the  more  exact  word,  ''  presence,"  in 
the  cases  where  the  translators  used  the  latter.  Nor  is 
the  radical  idea  of  them  the  same.  "  Coming  "  and 
"advent"  give  most  prominently  the  conception  of 
an  approach  to  us,  motion  toward  us ;  "  parousia  "  that 
of  being  with  us,  without  reference  to  how  it  began. 
The  force  of  the  former  ends  with  the  arrival ;  that  of 
the  latter  begins  with  it.  Those  are  words  of  motion ; 
this  of  rest.  The  space  of  time  covered  by  the  action 
of  the  former  is  limited,  it  may  be  momentary ;  that 
of  the   latter  unlimited, — continuance   that  may  be 

rious!  appearing,  in  contrast  to  the  state  of  humiliation  in 
which  he  first  came  to  earth ;  or  its  permanence  is  empliasized  in 
contrast  with  the  shortness  of  his  former  visitation,  for  the 
word  translated  coming  in  the  text  just  cited  properly  signifies 
presence."  Hist.  Ch.  Theology,  p.  190. — Dr.  Beuss,  Prof,  in  the 
Protestant  Theo.  Seminary  in  Strasburg. 

"  Jesus  described  this  judgment  on  Jerusalem  in  the  symbolic 
language  of  prophecy  as  connected  with  his  (invisible)  presence, 
and  bade  his  disciples  await  his  coming  and  recognize  it  in  that 

event. His  presence,  which  he  called  in  prophetic  language  a 

coming  on  the  clouds  of  heaven,  would  consist  in  the  manifes- 
tation  of    his  divine    interposition   in  human  affairs   as  the 

exalted  protector  of  his  church. This  wicked  one  Christ  will 

destroy,  etc., — i.  e.,  he  will  execute  judgment  on  this  man  of 
sin  as  he  will  also  on  Jerusalem ;  both  alike  will  be  the  effect  of 
his  presence  (parousia)." — First  Age.  Yol.  II.  pp.  71,  96. — Dr. 
Dollinger,  Prof,  of  Eccl.  History  in  the  University  of  Munich. 


THE  TERM  AND  SIGNIFICATION.  15 

eternal.  So  in  respect  to  place ;  a  coming  implies  an 
arrival  at  some  locality ;  a  presence  may  be  universal, 
"wherever  two  or  three  are  met."  The  promise  of 
the  Lord's  coming  to  men,  therefore,  is  not  the  same 
thing  as  a  promise  of  his  presence  with  them.  The 
one  implies  nothing  more,  necessarily,  than  a  single 
manifestation,  a  visit  however  short ;  the  other  implies 
a  stay  with  them,  relations  of  permanence ;  not  the 
performance  of  a  single  act,  but  rather  a  dispensation 
including  within  it  many  acts,  and  covering  a  long 
period  of  duration,  possibly  eternal. 

It  may  be  thought  that  I  make  more  of  this  dis- 
tinction than  is  needful,  but  I  am  persuaded  otherwise. 
Had  our  translators  done  with  this  technical  word 
"  parousia"  as  they  did  with  "baptisma," — transferring 
it  unchanged, — or  if  translated  using  its  exact  etymo- 
logical equivalent,  presence^  and  had  it  been  well 
understood,  as  it  then  would  have  been,  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  "  second  Presence,"  I  believe  that 
the  entire  doctrine  would  have  been  different  from 
what  it  now  is.  The  phrases,  "  second  advent,"  and 
"  second  coming,"  would  never  have  been  heard  of. 
The  church  would  have  been  taught  to  speak  of  The 
Pbesence  of  the  Lord,  as  that  from  which  its 
hopes  were  to  be  realized,  whether  in  the  near  future 
or  at  the  remotest  period, — that  under  which  the 
world  was  to  be  made  new,  a  resurrection  both  spirit- 
ual and  corporeal  should  be  attained,  and  justice  and 
everlasting  awards  administered.  There  would  have 
been  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  that  Presence  be- 
gan to  be  near  at  the  time  when  in  the  primitive  age 


16  THE  PABOUSIA. 

it  was  expected,  in  that  existing  generation,  and  would 
continue  long  enough  for  everything  to  happen  under 
it  which  prophecy  connects  with  it.  And  even  now, 
if  we  could  get  rid  of  the  limiting  and  localizing 
ideas  implied  in  a  coming,  and  substitute  for  them  the 
universal  and  eternal  possibilities  of  a  presence,  I 
believe  that  nine-tenths  of  the  difficulties  attending  the 
subject  would  disappear,  and  we  should  easily  return 
to  those  simple  views  which  made  the  Parousia  to  the 
apostles  and  primitive  churches  a  perpetual  spring  of 
activity  and  hope  and  holy  joy. 

But  we  are  anticipating.  There  are  other  terms 
which  are  not  unfrequently  applied  in  the  New 
Testament  to  the  same  event,  but  not  in  the  same 
distinctive  way  as  the  one  we  have  considered.  Such 
are  djiox61u(pL(i,  translated  revelation  in  1  Pet.  1 :  13 ; 
appearing  in  1  Pet.  1:7;  coming  in  1  Cor.  1 :  7 : — 
imipdvEta,  rendered  appearing  in  1  Tim.  6:  14;  2 
Tim.  1 :  10 ;  4 :  1,  8 ;  Titus  2:  13 ;  and  brightness  in  2 
Thess.  2 :  8 : — iXeuacQ,  translated  coming  in  Acts  7 : 
52.  It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  either  of  these, 
for  they  are  used  only  incidentally  and  in  an  ordinary 
way  which  throws  no  special  light  upon  the  nature  of 
the  event  itself.  The  great  diversity  of  signification 
given  them  by  the  translators  shows  that  they  saw 
nothing  technical  or  distinctive  in  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NATUKE  OF  THE  PAKOUSIA. 

The  work  of  salvation  is  represented  in  the  Scrip- 
tures,— doubtless  in  condescension  to  our  human 
conceptions, — as  having  been  the  object  of  consulta- 
tion and  covenant  between  the  Persons  of  the  Trinity, 
before  the  creation  of  the  world.  The  Divine  Logos, 
or  Son,  is  said  to  have  offered  himself  for  it^  perform- 
ance, consenting  to  the  temporary  relinquishment  of 
his  divine  honors,  and  to  the  humiliations  and  suffer- 
ings involved  in  taking  a  human  nature,  living  a  hu- 
man life,  and  dying  an  ignominious  and  most  painful 
death,  thereby  making  an  atonement  for  sin  which 
would  render  pardon  possible.  This  offer  the  Father, 
as  the  representative  of  eternal  law  and  justice,  is  said 
to  have  accepted,  and  in  return  for  it  to  have  given  the 
world  thus  redeemed  to  the  Son,  to  be  in  a  peculiar 
sense  his  own,  to  be  possessed,  governed,  and  disposed 
of  by  him  for  its  own  salvation  and  the  manifestation 
of  his  glory.  "  Therefore  will  I  divide  him  a  portion 
with  the  great,  and  he  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the 
strong,  because  he  hath  poured  out  his  soul  unto 
death."  Isa.  53  :  12.  "  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen 
(the  nations)  for  thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession."  Ps.  2:  8. 
"  There  was  given  him  dominion,  and  glory,  and  a 


17 


18  TRE  PAE0U8IA. 

kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations  and  languages 
should  serve  him."  Dan.  7 :  14.  "  We  see  Jesus, 
who  was  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  for  the 
suffering  of  death  crowned  with  glory  and  honor." 
Heb.  2:  9.  "Who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before 
him  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is  set 
down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God."  Heb. 
12 :  2.  "  Who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it 
not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God*  but  made  himself 
of  no  reputation  (Gr.  kaurbu  ixiucoasu,  emptied  him- 
self)^ and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and 
was  made  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  and  being  found 
in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself  and  became 
obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 
Wherefore  also  God  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and 
given  him  a  name  (i.  e.  a  rank  or  dignity)  which  is 
above  every  name,"  etc.  Phil.  2:  6-11.  See  also 
Matt.  11 :  27  ;  28  :  18;  John  3  :  35  ;  5  :  27  ;  1  Cor.  15: 
25-28 ;  Eph.  1 :  20-23. 

This  dignity — called  often  by  a  single  term,  his 
"  glory," — involved  several  functions  which  we  usually 
consider  as  distinct.  In  our  day  we  divide  govern- 
ment into  three  departments,  the  legislative,  judicial, 
and  executive,  but  this  is  a  device  unknown  in  early 
times  and  absolute  monarchies.  The  Hebrew  kings 
sat  on  their  thrones  in  the  gates  of  their  cities,  and 
"  executed  judgment  and  justice  "  for  their  people. 
2  Sam.  8  :  15  ;  15  :  2 ;  1  Kings  3:9;  Isa.  32  :  1.  In 
the  Old  Testament,  God  is  everywhere  styled  both 

a  More  exactly,  "thought  not  his  being  equal  with  God  a 
thing  to  be  held  fast."  Alford  translates  it,  "deemed  not  his 
equality  with  God  a  matter  for  grasping." 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PAB0U8IA.  19 

King  and  Judge,  and  the  records  of  his  will  are 
termed  interchangeably  his  laws,  his  statutes,  and  his 
judgments.  "  The  verbs,"  says  Hengstenberg,  "which 
signify  to  judge^  in  the  Shemitish  languages  have  for 
the  most  part  the  secondary  meaning  to  reign,  because 
in  ancient  times  both  functions  were  usually  confined 
to  one  person."^  Thus  Christ  the  King^  according  to 
Scripture  usage,  signifies  also  Christ  the  Judge^  the 
two  supreme  offices  being  conjointly  and  inseparably 
exercised  by  him  in  his  administration  over  this 
world.  See  also  Isa.  11 :  4,  5  ;  42  :  4  ;  John  5  :  22, 
26,  27  ;  Matt.  25  :  31-46. 

In  addition  to  these  and  transcending  all  the  func- 
tions of  an  earthly  monarch,  our  Lord  in  his  kingdom 
was  to  have  the  prerogative  of  giving  life  to  the  dead. 
His  kingdom  was  to  extend  over  a  realm  of  moral 
death — a  domain  of  souls  "  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins."  Their  entrance  into  it  was  to  be  by  a  new 
birth,  called  variously  a  "  re-generation,"  a  "  new  cre- 
ation," a  '^  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  etc.  John  1 : 
12,  13  ;  3:3;  Rom.  6  :  4-11 ;  Eph.  2  :  5.  This  new 
life  should  pervade  the  whole  nature  of  man,  the 
physical  as  well  as  spiritual.  Redemption  was  to  be 
co-extensive  with  the  fall ;  the  resurrection  the  com- 
plement of  regeneration.  "I  am,"  said  Christ,  "the 
Resurrection  and  the  life."  John  11 :  25.  When  his 
work  of  grace  should  be  completed,  man  would  stand 
restored  in  all  the  elements  of  his  nature,  "  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  lib- 
erty of  the  children  of  God."     Rom.  8  :  21. 

«^  Christology  of  the  O.  T.,  I.  p.  295. 


20        •  THE  PAR0U8IA. 

The  supreme  dignity  of  our  glorified  Lord,  then, 
was  to  involve  the  threefold  offices  of  King,  Life-giver, 
and  Judge.  Their  administration,  further,  was  to  be 
unique  in  this,  that  they  were  to  be  a  government  of 
grace,  having  in  it  the  special  provision  of  pardon  for 
the  guilty,  which  feature  we  designate  by  the  term 
mediatroial, — accomplishing  thus  what  else  would  be 
impossible,  the  harmonizing  of  equity  with  pardon, 
enabling  God  to  "  be  just  and  the  justifier  of  him  that 
believeth  in  Jesus." 

This  recital  of  the  familiar  truths  involved  in  the 
revealed  Plan  of  Redemption  will,  if  I  mistake  not, 
lead  us  to  the  true  idea  of  the  Parousia.  It  is  the 
presence  of  Christ  in  this  world  in  the  exercise  of  his 
mediatorial  offices.  In  this  view,  it  is  the  complement 
and  the  contrast  of  the  first  advent,  when  he  came  in 
the  flesh.  It  is  for  the  completion  of  the  work  which 
he  then  began.  It  is  for  the  harvesting  of  the  seed 
then  sown.  Matt.  13  :  37-43.  The  former,  according 
to  the  nature  of  its  work,  was  temporary  f  this  is  to  be 
permanent.  That  was  associated  with  memories  of 
sorrow,  humiliation,  and  death ;  this  with  the  promise 
of  perpetuity,  and  glory,  and  blessedness.  The  one  was 
a  day  of  "visitation"  to  men  (Luke  19  :  44);  the  other 
of  "  abode  "  with  them.  John  14  :  23.  What  better 
term  for  such  an  abode  could  be  devised  than  one 
which  includes  all  the  ideas  of  grace  and  joy  involved 

a  The  phrase  in  Heb.  2:  7,  9,  "made  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels,"  should  undoubtedly  read  "made  lower  than  the 
angels  for  a  little  while.''  Most  authorities  agree  in  this,  though 
Alford  dissents.    See  his  note  on  the  passage. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  21 

in  the  exercise  of  liis  great  offices,  the  Parouaia^ — a 
blessed  and  eternal  Presence  with  them  ? 

This  Presence,  it  may  be  remarked  further,  I  under- 
stand to  be  a  literal  one.  The  expression  "  Christ's 
literal  presence,  or  coming  "  is  often  taken  as  meaning 
nothing  less  than  a  material  and  visible  one,  so  that 
the  denial  of  such  a  coming  is  thought  to  be  a  rejection 
of  the  doctrine  of  his  literal  coming.  This  is  wholly 
unwarranted.  It  might  as  well  be  said  that  to  deny 
that  God  is  a  material  and  visible  being  is  to  deny  his 
literal  existence.  The  Parousia  is  a  literal  presence, 
as  truly  as  when  Christ  says,  "Where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I'm.  the  midst 
of  them."  It  is  not  a  figurative  one,  not  one  existing 
constructively  or  as  an  object  of  thought,  but  a  true, 
actual  presence,  as  real,  though  not  under  the  same 
conditions,  as  when  he  was  here  in  the  flesh. 

It  is  also  d^  personal  presence.  The  same  unwarran- 
ted restriction  of  meaning  is  often  given  to  this  phrase, 
as  if  Christ  could  not  be  personally  present  unless 
subject  to  the  senses  of  sight  and  touch.  How  often 
after  his  resurrection  did  he  render  himself  invisible 
to  his  disciples  while  he  was  with  them.  By  a  personal 
presence  I  mean  that  Christ  is  here  himself  in  propria 
persona^  not  merely  by  the  official  work  of  the  Spirit, 
nor  by  any   representative  whatever. 

Whether,  in  point  of  fact,  that  Presence  ever  will 
be  a  visible  one  with  a  visible  initiation  or  "  coming  " 
and  an  external  sensuous  kingdom,  is,  at  this  stage 
of  the  discussion,  premature  tg  inquire.  What  I  have 
said  is  sufficient  to  show  that  that  question  is  not  one 


22  THE  PABOUSIA. 

that  at  all  involves  its  essential  nature,  the  time  of  its 
occurrence,  or  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  ap- 
pointed. 

The  view  we  have  thus  gained  of  the  nature  of  the 
Parousia  suggests  to  us  also  what  is  meant  by  Christ's 
coming.  For  though,  as  already  remarked,  this  noun, 
iXeuac(;^  (coming)  is  used  but  once  in  the  N.  T.  (Acts 
7  :  52),  and  that  not  in  reference  to  his  second  coming, 
yet  the  verb  to  come  {sp-^oum^  rjxco)  is  very  frequently 
employed  in  that  signification.  But  we  are  to  remem- 
ber that  this  is  the  coming  of  a  divine  heing^  who  al- 
ready possesses  omnipresence,  and  cannot  therefore 
be  said  to  come  and  go  in  the  same  sense  as  when 
applied  to  finite  creatures.  It  is  an  instance  of  that 
anthropomorphism  which  is  every  where  used  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  without  which  it  would  be  impossible 
to  form  any  conception  of  God  or  of  his  acts. 

That  omnipresence,  as  a  personal  attribute,  belongs 
to  Christ  will  not  be  questioned  by  any  who  believe 
in  his  deity.  Even  when  dwelling  among  men  in  his 
flesh  he  could  say,  "Where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them." 
Nay,  he  directly  affirmed  that  at  the  same  moment 
when  he  was  visibly  present,  talking  with  those  about 
him,  he  was  also  in  heaven.  "  No  man  hath  ascended 
up  to  heaven  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven, 
even  the  Son  of  man,  who  is  in  heaven."  John  3  :  13. 
Much  more,  then,  may  it  be  affirmed  that  in  his  glori- 
fied state  he  possesses  this  prerogative  of  deity,  and 
can  no  more  come  in  the  sense  of  a  literal  approach 
than  he  can  depart,  leaving  some  portion  of  the  uni- 
verse empty  of  his  divine  essence. 


THE  NATURE  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  23 

The  only  conceivable  sense,  then,  in  which  Christ, 
in  his  divine  offices  of  King,  Life-giver,  and  Judge,  can 
come  to  men,  is  that  of  manifestation.  God  came 
down  on  Mt.  Sinai  when  the  phenomena  of  the  cloud, 
the  thunder,  and  the  earthquake  appeared  there  which 
manifested  his  presence.  "  In  Scripture  language," 
says  Stuart,  "  God  comes  whenever  he  proceeds  to  do 
or  execute  any  purpose  of  his  will  in  respect  to  man. 

But  we  are  never  authorized  to  suppose  an  actual 

and  visible  coming^  except  by  symbols.  God  is  always 
and  everywhere  present,  and  cannot  come  and  go  in 
the  literal  sense."  Bib.  Sac.  IX.  p.  340-1.  See  Gen.  11 : 
5  ;  18  :  21 ;  Ex.  3  :  8  ;  Numb.  12  :  5  ;  22  :  9  ;  Ps.  68  : 
7  ;  Isa.  64  :  3.  So  says  John,  "  Christ  came  by  water 
and  blood"  (1  John  5:6);  that  is,  he  was  manifested 
as  a  Saviour  to  men  by  the  water  and  blood  which  is- 
sued from  his  heart  when  pierced  by  the  soldier's 
spear.* 

a  "  Christ  said  to  the  Jewish  rulers,  at  his  condemnation,  that 
hereafter  they  would  see  the  Son  of  man  come  in  the  fullness 
of  his  divine  power.  Thus  his  presence,  which  he  called  in 
prophetic  language  '  a  coming  on  the  clouds  of  heaven,'  would 
consist  in  the  manifestation  of  his  divine  interposition  in  human 
affairs,  as  the  exalted  Protector  of  his  church.  This  they 
would  behold,  of  course,  only  with  the  eye  of  faith,  for  he  had 
already  told  them  they  would  then  first  see  or  recognize  him 
when  they  acknowledged  and  honored  him  as  Messiah." — Dol- 
linger.     First  Age  of  the  Church,  Vol.  II.  p.  71. 

*'  Christ  is  said  to  come  whenever  he  makes  manifest  his  glory 
as  King  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  in  enhanced  splendor  before 
the  eyes  of  all.  This  he  did,  in  its  initial  stage,  during  his  life 
on  earth,  but  yet  much  more  after  his  exaltation  to  heaven,  in 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  for  example,  in  the  fall  of  heath- 
endom, and  in  the  reformation  of  the  church ;  and  it  is  the  task 


24  THE  PAROUSIA. 

It  follows  from  this  that,  while  we  are  permitted  to 
conceive  and  to  speak  of  but  one  Parousia  of  Christ, 
there  may  be  man^  comings.  These  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  specific  events  under  a  generic  dispensation. 
Several  are  so  designated  in  the  Scriptures,  and  many 
more  might  equally  well  be.  Among  them  were  the 
Spirit's  work  on  the  day  of  pentecost,  the  judgment 
upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  the  conversion  of  Saul, 
the  various  deliverances  of  the  apostles  from  prison, 
the  overthrow  of  Jerusalem,  the  destruction  of  the 
man  of  sin,  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  etc.,  and 
generally,  the  happy  death  of  believers,  the  conquests 
in  the  work  of  missions,  revivals,  etc.^ 

of  an  exact  exegesis  to  determine  with  regard  to  every  place  in 
the  N.  T.  (where  this  is  demanded)  in  what  sense  precisely 
there  a  coming  of  the  Lord  is  spoken  of." — Van  Oosterzee,  Yol. 
II.  p.  578. 

*  In  this  view,  it  was  exactly  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  Hebrew 
diction  that  Mrs.  Howe,  in  her  "  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic," 
referring  to  the  uprising  of  the  nation  to  put  down  rebellion 
and  slavery,  wrote  : 

'^  Mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord, 
He  is  trampling  out  the  vintage  where  the  grapes  of  wrath  are 

stored. 
He  hath  loosed  the  fateful  lightning  of  his  terrible  swift  sword ; 

His  truth  is  marching  on. 

"I  have  seen  him  in   the  watchfires   of  a  hundred  circling 

camps ; 
They  have  builded  him   an  altar  in  the    evening  dews  and 

damps ; 
I  can  read  his  righteous  sentence  by  the  dim  and  flaring  lamps ; 
His  day  is  marching  on." 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAKOUSIA. 


SECTION  I. 
TESTIMONY  OF  CHKIST. 

The  first  of  the  inquiries  addressed  by  the  disciples 
to  our  Lord  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  respecting  his 
promised  Parousia  was  as  to  the  time  of  its  occurrence, 
"TeU  us  when  shall  these  things  be  ?"  Matt.  24 :  3. 
His  answer  is  very  full  and  explicit.  Indeed,  it  may 
be  said  that  on  no  subject  whatever  is  the  language  of 
the  New  Testament  more  abundant  or  more  decisive. 

1.  Its  precise  date  was  not  to  be  revealed,  nay  was 
unknown  even  to  himself.  "Of  that  day  and  that 
hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  which  are  in 
heaven,  neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father."  Mark  13  : 
32.  The  exact  moment  was  not  among  the  things  com- 
mitted to  him  to  be  disclosed  to  men.  While  here  in 
the  flesh,  his  own  divine  attributes  of  omniscience 
and  almighty  power  which,  as  the  eternal  Son  of  God, 
he  had  equally  with  the  Father,  were  in  a  state  of  abey- 
ance. He  had  "emptied  himself"  (Greek,  ixipojcrsp^ 
Phil.  2:7.)  and  taken  the  form  of  a  servant, — acting 
and  speaking  in  that  state  of  humiliation  only  through 
the  Spirit  (Matt.  12:  28;  Acts  1 :  2;  Heb.  9:  14), 
as  it  was  given  to  him  by  his  Father.  John  3 :  34 ; 
5:  19,30;   8:  28  ;  12  :  49. 

25 


26  THE  PAROUSIA. 

But  this  language  should  not  be  pressed  to  convey 
a  meaning  not  warranted  by  it.  It  is  very  often  cited 
as  showing  that  nothing  was  intended  to  be  known  as 
to  the  time,  and  therefore  as  reproving  all  those  who 
repeat  the  inquiry  of  the  apostles.  Dr.  Hodge  refer- 
ring to  it  says,  "  Neither  the  early  Christians  nor  the 
apostles  knew  when  the  second  advent  of  Christ  was 
to  take  place."  Com.  on  Rom.  13 :  11.  And  Dean 
Alford:  "The  time  of  his  own  coming  was  hidden 
from  all  created  beings,  nay,  in  the  mystery  of  his 
mediatorial  office,  from  the  Son  himself."  I  submit 
that  this  is  altogether  too  sweeping  an  assertion.  In 
the  very  verse  next  preceding  he  had  told  the  disciples 
when  it  should  be  with  sufficient  definiteness  for  all 
practical  purposes, — sufficient  to  incite  them  to  watch- 
fulness and  preparation  for  it ;  and  he  here  only  fore- 
stalls an  idle  curiosity  as  to  the  exact  day  and  hour^ 
which,  if  disclosed,  would  tend  to  interfere  with  the 
duties  of  that  time.  In  a  similar  manner,  after  his 
resurrection,  he  refused  to  answer  their  inquiry  whether 
the  time  had  arrived  in  which  he  would  restore  the 
kingdom  to  Israel,  saying,  "It  is  not  for  you  to 
know  the  times  and  seasons"  * — i.  e.  the  precise 
dates,  "which  the  Father  hath  put  in  his  own  power." 
Acts  2 :  7. 

2.  But  though  the  exact  day  and  hour  were  not  to 
be  stated,  he  still  assures  them  that  the  event  was  very 
near.     This  declaration  was  made  in  many  ways,  and 

a  "As  Meyer  observes,  kairos  (translated  seasons)  is  always 
a  definite,  limited  space  of  time,  and  involves  the  idea  of  tran- 
sitoriness."    Alford.     See  also  Tittman's  N.  T.  Synonymes. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  27 

repeated  with  emphasis,  and  many  solemn  admonitions 
that  it  should  be  remembered  and  watched  for,  making 
it  one  of  the  most  certain  and  impressive  teachings  in 
the  New  Testament. 

The  very  first  public  utterance  that  he  made,  after 
entering  upon  his  ministry  of  preaching,  was  to  repeat 
the  announcement  of  his  forerunner,  John,  in  the  wil- 
derness, "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Matt. 
4 :  17.  The  coming  of  that  kingdom  was  the  same 
thing  as  the  coming  of  its  king.  So  when  giving  his 
twelve  apostles  their  commission,  he  says,  "  As  ye  go, 
preach,  saying,  'The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'" 
Matt.  10:  7.  He  adds,  (ver.  23)  "Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel  till 
the  Son  of  man  be  come." 

Matt.  16 :  27,  28.  "The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in 
the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels,  and  then  he 
shall  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works.  Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  There  be  some  standing  here  which 
shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  his  kingdom."  In  the  corresponding  passage 
in  Mark  it  is,  "  till  they  have  seen  the  kingdom  of  God 
come  with  power."  And  in  Luke,  "till  they  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  It  has  been  maintained  by  some 
that  this  prediction  was  fulfilled  in  the  transfiguration, 
which  occurred  six  days  afterward.  But  this  is  a  most 
unnatural  explanation.  The  purpose  of  it  was  to 
comfort  his  disciples  under  his  announcement  that  he 
was  about  to  be  put  to  death,  and  their  expectations 
of  honor  and  place  in  his  kingdom  to  be  disappointed ; 
— that  they  must  deny  themselves  and  take  up  the 


28  THE  PAROUS  I  A. 

cross,  as  he  had  done,  and  be  willing  to  lose  life  itself 
if  they  would  preserve  it.  Yet  he  would  not  have 
them  discouraged,  for  their  Lord  would,  after  his 
death,  speedily  return  in  the  glory  of  his  new  kingdom, 
which  would  thenceforth  be  established  in  power.  He 
would  then  be  invested  with  the  office  of  administering 
judgment  and  reward,  and  would  repay  his  faithful 
servants  for  all  they  had  done  and  suffered  for  his  sake. 
Such  is  the  manifest  import  of  this  grand  promise, 
vrith  which  nothing  can  be  more  incongruous  than  the 
idea  that  they  should  be  permitted  merely  to  witness 
a  change  in  his  personal  appearance,  which  would  con- 
tinue but  an  hour  or  two,  and  which  they  must  be 
careful  not  to  tell  of.  How  absurd  to  call  this  a  re- 
warding of  every  man  according  to  his  works  !  Besides, 
it  seems  little  short  of  trifling  to  pretend  that  our 
Lord  should  so  solemnly,  and  with  the  formula  of 
weightiest  emphasis,  declare  that  there  were  some 
among  all  the  persons  standing  about  him  who  would 
not  die  within  a  week  1^ 

*"Tliis  declaration  refers  in  its  full  meaning,  certainly 
not  to  the  transfiguration  which  follows,  for  that  could  in  no 
sense  (except  that  of  being  a  foretaste;  cf.  Peter's  own  allusion 
to  it.  2  Pet.  1 :  17.  where  he  evidently  treats  it  as  such)  be  named 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom ;  and  the  expression 
'Some  of  them  shall  not  taste  of  death'  indicates  a  distant  event, 
— but  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  full  manifestation 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  by  the  annihilation  of  the  Jewish 
polity."    Alford. 

"It  has  reference  to  a  gradual  or  progressive  change,  the  in- 
stitution of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  men  and  in  society 
at  large,  of  which  protracted  process  the  two  salient  points  are 
the  effusion  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  pentecost  and  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  later." 
Alexander. 


TUB  TIME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  29 

John  21 :  21,  22.  "Peter  seeing  him  saith  to  Jesus, 
Lord,  and  what  shall  this  man  do  ?  Jesus  saith  unto 
him,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to 
thee?"  This  is  not,  indeed,  an  express  declaration 
that  John  should  live  till  the  time  of  his  coming,  but 
that  meaning  is  implied  in  it.*  The  other  apostles 
so  understood  it,  and  the  prediction  in  this  sense  was 
verified,  John,  according  to  the  testimony  of  all  an- 
tiquity, having  survived  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
Euseb.  Eccl.  Hist.  iii.  23. 

Matt.  24 :  34.  "This  generation  shall  not  pass  till 
all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  It  has  been  said  that 
the  word  "generation"  does  not  necessarily  denote  a 
period  equivalent  to  the  average  duration  of  those 
living  at  one  time,  but  that  it  sometimes  signifies  a  race 
or  hind ;  so  that  the  meaning  here  may  be  that,  not- 
withstanding the  threatened  overthrow  of  the  nation, 
the  Jewish  race  should  survive  and  continue  till  the 
end  of  time.  But  this  is  foreign  to  the  whole  scope 
of  the  passage.  The  topic  under  consideration  was 
the  time  of  the  Parousia.  Jesus  likens  it  to  the  near 
approach  of  the  summer  after  the  budding  of  the 
spring,  and  immediately  adds  the  words  before  us,  as 
if  to  reiterate  the  idea  in  the  strongest  terms.  Besides, 
though  the  English  word,  generation,  may  sometimes 
have  the  sense  claimed,  there  is  no  instance  in  the  New 
Testament  of  such  use  of  the  original  word,  yeved.     It 

a  "The  words  must  be  accepted  as  expressing  not  merely 
what  he  could  do,  but  what  he  intended  to  do."  Archbishop 
Trench,  Studies,  p.  189. 


30  THE  PAROUSIA. 

occurs  forty-two  times,  and  invariably  in  its  ordinary 
sense  of  the  men  of  this  age,  or  those  now  living.^ 
Z^  Matt.  26 ;  6f .     "Hereafter"   (Gr.  from  this  time) 

"shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand 

of  power  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven." 

Luke  22 :  69.  "Hereafter"  (Gr.  from  now)  "shall  the 
Son  of  man  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  the  power  of 
God."  In  these  passages  the  qualifying  phrases  of 
time  are  very  explicit,  not  signifying,  as  the  English 
"hereafter,"  some  indefinite  period  in  the  future,  but 
one  commencing  at  that  very  moment ; — immediately, 
forthwith. 

^ "  Not  withstanding  the  dissent  of  some,  the  phrase  can 
only  mean  '  this  very  generation,'  '  the  race  of  men  now  living.'  " 
Bloomfield. 

"Ejus  setatis  homines."     Rosenmuller. 

'*It  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  equivalent  to  our  mode  of 
expression  when  we  say,  '  There  are  those  now  born  who  will 
live  to  see  these  things  fulfilled.'  "     Bobinson.     Bib.  Sac. 

"  'Not,'  says  De  Wette,  '  this  generation  of  the  Jews,  not  this 
generation  of  the  apostles  (Paulus),  but  exclusively,  the  genera- 
tion of  men  now  living.'  His  explanation  is  doubtless  correct.' ' 
Stuart,  Bib.  Sac.  IX.  p.  455. 

"Unless  we  forge  a  meaning  for  the  word  in  this  place  which 
is  not  only  unexampled  elsewhere,  but  directly  contradictory  to 
its  essential  meaning  everywhere,  we  must  understand  our 
Lord  as  saying  that  the  contemporary  race  or  generation,  i.  e. 
those  then  living,  should  not  pass  away  till  all  these  prophecies 
should  be  accomplished."     J.  A.  Alexander. 

"We  can  understand  nothing  else  by 'this  generation'  than 
the  contemporaries  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples."     Keil. 

"This  generation  of  living  men."     Geikie. 

"Genea  (generation)  is  not  used  in  the  sense  of  nation  in  any 
one  passage,  either  in  the  New  Testament  or  of  profane  writers." 
Olshausen. 

"The  generation  of  persons  then  living  with  Christ."  Ben- 
ham  in  Bib.  Cyc. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  31 

John  16  :  16.  "A  little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see 
me,  and  again  a  little  while  and  ye  shall  see  me ;  because 
I  go  unto  the  Father."  This  and  similar  phrases  in 
the  discourse  can  only  have  one  import,  as  Alford 
terms  it,  "the  great  Revisitation  in  all  its  blessed 
progress." 

These  declarations  of  our  Lord  were  accompanied 
by  the  most  solemn  warnings  to  his  disciples  to  be  con- 
tinually prepared  and  watching  for  his  coming,  for  it 
would  take  place  suddenly  and,  to  those  not  thus  watch- 
ing, unexpectedly.  Matt.  24 :  42-45 ;  Mark  13 :  33  ; 
Luke  21 :  34-36.  Of  like  import  are  the  parables  of 
the  servant  left  in  charge  of  a  household  (Matt.  24 : 
45-51);  of  the  ten  virgins  (Matt.  25 :  1-13);  and  of 
the  talents  (Matt.  25 :  14-29).  It  seems  to  us  little 
else  than  mockery  to  address  such  admonitions  to  those 
who,  upon  the  theory  that  the  Parousia  is  still  future, 
would  have  gone  to  their  graves  at  least  twenty  cen- 
turies before  the  prediction  would  be  accomplished. 

SECTION  n. 
TESTIMONY  OF  THE  FOUR  DISCIPLES. 

Such  were  the  teachings  of  the  Master  himself.  If 
now  we  turn  to  the  apostles  whom  he  commissioned 
to  complete  the  sacred  volume,  we  find  as  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  facts  that  they  had  understood  him 
as  affirming  the  near  approach  of  the  Parousia  ;  that 
they  frequently  spoke  of  it,  and  derived  from  it  their 
most  constant  incitements  to  fidelity,  and  their  most 
precious  consolations  and  hopes. 

Three  of  those  who  inquired  concerning  it  on  the 


32  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Mount  of  Olives  were  James,  Peter,  and  John,  and 
these,  with  Jude,  are  the  only  ones  of  the  twelve  whose 
words  have  been  preserved  to  us  in  writing.  A  simple 
citation  of  their  language  will  strikingly  illustrate 
how  habitually  and  how  fondly  they  recurred  to  the 
subject. 

JAMES. 

Jas.  5  :  7,  8,  9.  "  Be  patient  therefore,  brethren, 
unto  the  coming  (Parousia)  of  the  Lord.  Behold 
the  husbandman  waiteth,  etc. ;  be  ye  also  patient, 
for  the  coming  (Parousia)  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh. 
Behold  the  Judge  standeth  before  the  door." 

PETER. 

1  Pet.  1:5.  "  Who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time," 
(about  to  be  disclosed). 

1  Pet.  1:7.  "  That  the  trial  of  your  faith— might 
be  found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  ap- 
pearing (d,Tcox(ihj>pcc:^  of  Jesus  Christ." 

1  Pet.  1 :  13.  "  Be  sober,  and  hope  to  the  end  for 
the  grace  that  is  to  be  brought  unto  you."  (Alford 
says  the  original  "  expresses  the  near  impending  of 
the  event  spoken  of ;  q.  d. ;  '  which  is  even  now  bear- 
ing down  on  you.' ")  at  the  appearing  (d;raxa/y^rc) 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

1  Pet.  4:5.  "  Who  shall  give  account  to  him  that 
is  ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead." 

1  Pet.  4:7.  "  But  the  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand; 
be  ye  therefore  sober  and  watch  unto  prayer." 

1  Pet.  4 :  13.     "  That  when  his  glory  shall   be  re- 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  33 

vealed  (Gr.  in  the  apocalypsis  of  his  glory)  ye  may  be 
glad  also  with  exceeding  joy." 

1  Pet.  4 :  IT.  "  For  the  time  is  come  that  judg- 
ment must  begin  at  the  house  of  God."  (Gr.  it  is 
the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  judgment). 

1  Pet.  5:1.  "A  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall 
be  (Gr.  is  about  to  be)  revealed." 

1  Pet.  5:4.  "  And  when  the  chief  Shepherd  shall 
appear,  ye  shall  receive  a  crown  of  glory  that  fadeth 
not  away." 

2  Pet.  1 :  16.  "  We  made  known  to  you  the  power 
and  coming  (Parousia)  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

2  Pet.    3:    10-12.     "The   day   of  the   Lord   wiU 

come  as  a  thief  in  the  night Seeing  then  that  all 

these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  per- 
sons ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and 
godliness,  looking  for  and  hasting  [unto]  the  coming 
(Parousia)  of  the  day  of  God,"  etc. 

JOHN. 

1  John  2:18.  "  It  is  the  last  time."  Alford  says, 
"  Verse  28  shows  that  it  is  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
which  is  before  the  mind  of  the  apostle." 

1  John  2 :  28.  "  Abide  in  him,  that  when  he  shall 
appear  we  may  have  confidence,  and  not  be  ashamed 
before  him  at  his  coming."     (Gr.  in  his  Parousia). 

1  John  3:2.  We  know  that  when  he  shall  appear 
we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is." 

Rev.  1:13.  "  Things  which  must  shortly  come  to 
pass. The  time  is  at  hand." 

Rev.  2 :  5,  16.     "  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly." 

3 


34  THE  PAROUSIA. 

^     Rev.  2  :  ^5.     "  Hold  fast  till  I  come." 

Rev.  3:  3,  20.     "I  will  come  on  thee  as  a  thief. 

Behold  I  stand  at  the  door." 

Rev.  22 :  12.  Behold  I  come  quickly,  and  my  re- 
ward is  with  me." 

JUDB. 

Verse.  14.  "  Enoch  prophesied  saying,  The 
Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints."  Vs. 
24.  "  Unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling 
and  to  present  you  faultless  before  the  presence  of  his 
glory,"  etc. 

SECTION    III. 
TESTIMONY   OF   PAUL. 

In  citing  the  abundant  testimony  of  this  great 
apostle,  who,  though  not  with  the  others  who  heard 
our  Lord's  words  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  yet  received 
the  gospel  which  he  preached  by  direct  revelation 
(Gal.  1 :  12),  we  begin  with  the  earliest  of  his 
epistles, — 1  Thessalonians, — which  should  be  read  in 
connection  with  Acts  17 :  1-10,  as  showing  the 
circumstances  attending  the  founding  of  the  Thessa- 
lonian  church.  The  great  theme  of  his  preaching 
there  had  been  the  speedy  coming  of  Christ  to  estab- 
lish his  kingdom  among  men.  This  appears  from  the 
complaint  made  by  his  enemies  to  the  Roman  author- 
ities, that  he  and  his  followers  were  turning  the  world 
upside  down — "  saying  that  there  is  another  King — 
one  Jesus."  With  this  agrees  his  own  statement, — 1 
Thess.  1:  9,  10.     "Macedonia  and  Achaia  *    *  shew 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAR0U8IA.  35 

of  US  what  manner  of  entering  in  we  had  unto  you, 
and  how  ye  turned  to  God  from  idols  to  serve  the  liv- 
ing and  true  God,  and  to  wait  for  Ms  Son  from 
heaven.'"  That  Jesus  was  the  appointed  King  of  men 
and  that  he  was  about  to  come  from  heaven  to  assume 
his  throne  are  plainly  the  leading  topics  thus  indica- 
ted. We  do  not  wonder  that  with  backs  yet  bleeding 
from  the  scourging  they  had  suffered  at  Philippi, 
Paul  and  his  companion  Silas  should  have  taught 
thus.  They  made  Christ's  own  words  in  Matt.  16 : 
24-28  their  text,  and  their  preaching,  as  he  says,  and 
as  it  well  might  be  from  an  eloquence  so  fired  and  so 
illustrated,  "was  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  in  much  assurance."  Ch.  1:  5.  From  the  seed 
sown  in  that  three  weeks'  ministry  sprang  up  a  church 
whose  faith  and  zeal  won  from  him  the  most  honora- 
ble commendation,  and  was,  as  he  assures  them, 
known  and  certified  to  throughout  all  Greece.  Ch. 
1:  8.^ 

With  this  key-note  of  his  preaching  harmonize  all 
the  allusions  to  the  same  subject  with  which  the  two 
epistles  to  this  church  abound. 

1  Thess.  2:  19.  "What  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or 
crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are  not  even  ye  in  the  presence 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  coming?"  (his 
Parousia). 

*"The  great  burden  of  his  message  to  them  was  the  ap- 
proaching coming  and  kingdom  of  the  Lord  Jesus." — Alford. 
"If  we  were  asked  for  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the 
first  Christians  of  Thessalonica,  we  should  point  to  their  over- 
whelming sense  of  the  nearness  of  the  second  advent." — 
Howson.    Life  and  Epp.  I.  p.  327. 


36  THE  PAROUSIA. 

1  Thess.  3 :  13.  "  To  the  end  he  may  stablish  your 
hearts  unblamable  in  holiness  before  God,  even  our 
Father,  at  the  coming  (Parousia)  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  his  saints." 

1  Thess.  4 :  15.  "  We  which  are  alive  and  remain 
unto  the  coming  (Parousia)  of  the  Lord."^ 

1  Thess.  4 :  17.  "  Then  we  which  are  alive  and  re- 
main shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the 
clouds,"  etc.^ 

1  Thess.  5:2.  "  Yourselves  know  perfectly  that 
the  day  of  the  Lord  so  cometh  as  a  thief  in  the 
night." 

1  Thess.  5:  23.  "I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit 
and  soul  and  body  be  preserved  blameless  unto  the 
coming  (Parousia)  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

2  Thess.  1:7.     "  And  to  you  who  are  troubled  rest 

a  "Then  beyond  question  he  himself  expected  to  be  alive, 
together  with  the  majority  of  those  to  whom  he  was  writing, 
at  the  Lord's  coming." — Alford.  This  author  styles  the  usual 
explanation  that  by  "we,  the  living,"  is  meant  "such  as 
should  be  alive  at  that  day,"  an  evasion,  and  insists  that  in  the 
word  we,  "  Paul  includes  his  readers  and  himself.  That  this 
was  his  expectation  we  know  from  other  passages,  especially 

from  2  Cor.  5: 1-10." "  Certainly  the  proceeding  of  the  older 

interpreters  who  thought  Paul  spoke  in  the  plural  only  conver- 
sationally, without  really  meaning  to  say  that  they  themselves, 
he  and  his  readers,  might  be  still  living  at  the  occurrence  of 
that  catastrophe,  is  decidedly  to  be  rejected." — Olshausen. 

''Here  Paul  evidently  reckons  himself  among  those  of 
whom  he  considers  it  possible,  and  a  thing  to  be  desired  and 
hoped  for,  that  they  may  live  to  witness  the  advent.  The 
strange  evasions  by  means  of  which  the  fathers  and  others 
sought  to  make  out  that  Paul  nevertheless  is  not  speaking  of 
himself,  are  justly  set  aside  by  Lunemann." — Auberlen,  in 
Lange's  Com. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  37 

with  us,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven,"  etc.  (Gr.  in  the  apocalypsis  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  from  heaven). 

2  Thess.  2 :  1-12.  This  passage,  so  often  quoted  to 
disprove  the  speedy  coming  of  Christ,  will  receive 
distinct  notice  hereafter. 

2  Thess.  3:5.  "  The  Lord  direct  your  hearts  into 
the  love  of  God,  and  into  the  patient  waiting  for 
Christ." 

The  other  epistles  of  Paul  we  note  in  their  usual 
order. 

Rom.  8 :  18.  "  The  sufferings  of  this  present  time 
are  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which 
shall  be  revealed  in  us."  (Gr.  is  about  to  be  re- 
vealed). 

Rom.  13:  11-12.  "And  that  knowing  the  time, 
that  now  it  is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep ;  for 
now  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  believed. 
The  night  is  far  spent ;  the  day  is  at  hand."* 

1  Cor.  1 :  7-8.  "  Ye  come  behind  in  no  gift,  wait- 
ing for  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
shall  also  confirm  you  unto  the  end,  that  ye  may  be 

*  "  A  fair  exegesis  of  this  passage  can  hardly  fail  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  the  apostle  here  as  well  as  elsewhere  (1  Thess. 
4:  17;  1  Cor.  15:  51),  speaks  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  as 
rapidly  approaching." — Alford.  "Most  modern  German  com- 
mentators defend  this  reference.  Olshausen,  DeWette,  Philippi, 
Meyer,  and  others,  think  no  other  view  in  the  least  tenable ; 
and  Dr.  Lange,  while  careful  to  guard  against  extreme  theories 
on  this  point,  denies  the  reference  to  eternal  blessedness,  and 
admits  that  the  Parousia  is  intended.  The  opinion  gains 
ground  among  Anglo-Saxon  exegetes." — Middle,  in  Lange' s 
Com. 


38  THE  PAROUSIA. 

blameless  in  the  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The 
meaning  is  that  the  Corinthians  were  not  inferior  to 
any  other  church  in  their  ardent  and  waiting  expec- 
tation of  the  approaching  Parousia.** 

1  Cor.  3 :  13.  "  Every  man's  work  shall  be  made 
manifeJit ;  for  the  day  shall  declare  it,  because  it  shall 
be  revealed  by  fire."  Literally,  "  It — the  day- — is  be- 
ing manifested  in  fire."  The  verb  is  in  the  present 
tense,  as  if  denoting  an  event  now  in  progress  or  just 
about  to  occur. 

1  Cor.  4:5.  "  Therefore  judge  nothing  before  the 
time,  until  the  Lord  come,  who  both  will  bring  to 
light  the  things  of  darkness,  and  will  make  manifest 
the  counsels  of  the  hearts."  An  apparent  allusion  to 
the  work  of  the  Revealer  predicted  in  Malachi  3 :  2-5. 

1  Cor.  5:5.  "  Deliver  such  a  one  unto  Satan  for 
the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be 
saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

1  Cor.  7 :  29.  "  But  this  I  say,  brethren,  the  time 
is  short ;  it  remaineth,"  etc.^ 

1  Cor.  11 :  26.     "  For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread 

*"It  may  be  asked,  Were  the  Corinthians  looking  for 
Christ's  second  advent  as  an  event  likely  to  occur  in  their  day, 
and  which  some  of  them  might  be  expected  to  witness  ?  This 
question  must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative." — Poor,  in 
Lange's  Com. 

♦'Alford  translates  this,  "The  time  that  remains  is  short, 
— literally  the  '  time  is  shortened  henceforth ' ;  i.  e.  the  interval 
between  now  and  the  coming  of  the  Lord  has  arrived  at  an  ex- 
tremely contracted  period." — "The  'time'  is  not  to  be  taken 
for  the  earthly  lifetime  of  individuals ;  the  context  rather  points 
to  the  period  of  time  from  thence  onward  until  the  second  ad- 
vent."— Kling,  in  Lange's  Com. 


TllJi:  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  39 

and  drink  this  cup,  ye  do  shew  the  Lord's  death  till 
he  come."  This  passage  is  relied  upon  by  many  as 
showing  that  the  Parousia  is  still  future,  else  our 
practice  of  observing  the  Supper  should  cease.  This 
will  be  considered  hereafter.* 

1  Cor.  15:  23.  Christ  the  first  fruits;  afterward 
they  that  are  Christ's  at  his  coming."  (Gr.  in  his 
Parousia). 

1  Cor.  15 :  51,  52.  "  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we 
shall  all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye,  at  the  last  trump;  for  the  trumpet  shall 
sound,"  etc.^ 

1  Cor.  16 :  22.  "  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ  let  him  be  anathema.  Maran  atha."  i.  e. 
the  Lord  cometh.*^ 

8^ "The  showing  forth  is  addressed  directly  to  the  Corin- 
thians, not  to  them  and  all  succeeding  Christians ;  the  apostle 
regarding  the  coming  of  the  Lord  as  near  at  hand,  in  his  own 
time. " — A  Iford. 

^"We  all,  viz.,  as  in  1  Thess.  4:  15,  who  are  alive  and  re- 
main unto  the  Parousia  of  the  Lord,  in  which  number  the 
apostle  firmly  believed  that  he  himself  should  be." — Alford. 
"To  take  the  term  'we'  as  a  sort  of  generalization  by  which 
he  did  not  intend  literally  to  denote  himself  and  his  contempo- 
raries, but  only  those  living  at  the  time  of  the  advent,  and  who 
belonged  to  an  entirely  different  period,  and  so,  as  equivalent 
to  '  we  Christians,'  i.  e.  those  who  shall  then  be  alive,  is  entire- 
ly arbitrary.  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  apostle,  although 
opposed  to  all  fanciful  expectations  and  designations  of  time, 
regarded  the  second  advent  as  near,  and  hoped  to  survive  it." 
— Kling. 

cThe  thought,  'The  Lord  comes!'  is  calculated  to 
heighten  the  force  of  the  preceding  thought ;  Be  ye  quickly  con- 
verted, for  the  time  of  decision  is  near  at  hand!" — Olshausen. 


40  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Phil.  1:6.  "  He  which  hath  begun  a  good  work  in 
you  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ."^ 

Phil.  2:  16.  "That  I  may  rejoice  in  the  day  of 
Christ  that  I  have  not  run  in  vain,  neither  labored  in 
vain." 

Phil.  3 :  20.  "  Our  conversation  is  in  heaven,  from 
whence  also  we  look  for  the  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."^ 

Phil.  4:5.  "  Let  your  moderation  be  known  unto 
all  men.     The  Lord  is  at  hand." 

Col.  3:4.  "  When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall  ap- 
pear, then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory." 

1  Tim.  6  :  14.  "  Keep  this  commandment  without 
spot,  unrebukeable  until  the  appearing  (epiphaneia) 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

2  Tim.  4:  1.  "I  charge  thee  before  God  and  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  (Gr.  is  about  to)  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead  at  his  appearing  (^epiphaneia) 
and  his  kingdom." 

2  Tim.  4:8.  "  There  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
shall  give  me  at  that  day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but 
unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing." 

2  Tim.  4 :  18.  "  The  Lord  shall  deliver  me  from 
every  evil  work,  and  will  preserve  me  unto  his  heav- 
enly kingdom." 

Titus  2  :  13.     "Looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and 

»"  This  assumes  the  nearness  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord." 
— Alford. 

^"The  words  assume,  as  St.  Paul  always  does  when 
speaking  incidentally,  the  '  we '  surviving  to  witness  the  coming 
of  the  Lord."— ^Z/ord. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  41 

the  glorious  appearing  (epiphaneia)  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ." 

Heb.  9 :  28.  "  Unto  them  that  look  for  hun  shall 
he  appear  (Gr.  be  seen),  the  second  time,  without  sin 
unto  salvation." 

Heb.  10 :  25.  "  And  so  much  the  more  as  ye  see 
the  day^  approaching." 

Heb.  10:  37.  "For  yet  a  little  while,  and  he  that 
shall  come  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry."  The  ex- 
pression in  the  original  is  very  peculiar.  The  words 
translated  "  a  little  while,"  are  a  sort  of  double  super- 
lative, denoting  the  smallest  possible  time.  Alford 
translates  them  a  "little  little  while."  He  thinks 
that  Paul  had  in  his  mind  a  similar  expression  in  the 
Septuagint  of  Isa.  26 :  20,  which  in  our  version  is 
rendered  "for  a  little  moment."  Nothing  could  ex- 
press more  forcibly  the  idea  of  the  speediness  of  the 
event  referred  to.  Yet,  as  if  that  were  not  enough, 
the  same  thing  is  repeated  in  the  negative  form, — 
"  and  will  not  tarry." 

SECTION  lY. 
THE  TESTIMONY  WEIGHED. 

I  have  thus  cited  or  referred  to  above  seventy 
instances  in  which  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  spoke 
directly  or  indirectly  of  the  time  of  that  great  period 
named  the  Parousia.  The  casual  reader,  not  familiar 
with  the  customary  phraseology  of  the  apostolic  age, 
may  not  have  always  recognized  the  allusion  to  that 

*"The    shortest    of    all    designations    of    the   Lord's  com- 
ing."—^Z/or^. 


42  THE  PABOUSIA. 

period,  but  a  careful  study  of  the  passages  will  not 
leave  any  doubt  on  that  point.  What  now  is  the  con- 
clusion to  which  they  bring  us  ? 

1.  Let  it  be  noted  that  in  none  of  these  passages, 
nor  in  any  other  of  either  Testament,  is  there  any 
affirmation  that  the  Parousia  was  distant.  Nearly 
two  thousand  years  have  passed  since  that  time,  and 
if  the  Parousia  is  still  future,  it  must  then  have  been 
far  off, — how  much  more  than  two  thousand  years  we 
cannot  say.  Is  it  not  remarkable  that,  if  this  were  so, 
no  intimation  of  that  fact  should  at  any  time  have 
been  made  ?  Is  it  not  wonderful  that  among  at  least 
fourscore  allusions  to  the  event,  and  the  time  when  it 
was  expected,  not  one  of  them  should  have  hinted  at 
the  truth, — if  such  was  the  truth  ?  Is  it  not  passing 
strange  that  in  stating  their  expectations  and  hopes, 
and  urging  the  powerful  motives  which  centered  in 
that  event,  not  one  should  have  uttered  a  word,  or  be- 
trayed the  trace  of  an  impression  in  his  mind,  that  the 
time  was  more  than  twenty  centuries  distant  ?  Nay, 
take  this  assumed  fact — say  of  twenty  centuries — and 
carry  it  back  and  lay  it  along  side  the  utterances 
quoted,  as  a  supposed  explanation  of  what  their  authors 
meant : — "at  hand,"  "before  some  standing  here  taste 
of  death,"  "this  generation,"  "from  now,"  "quickly," 
"the  time  is  short,"  "we  who  are  alive  and  remain 
unto  it,"  "a  little  little  while,"  etc.  Is  that,  I  cannot 
help  asking,  a  proper  way  of  understanding  inspired 
words  ?  I  need  not  ask  the  learned  only  ;  I  appeal  to 
every  plain  man  of  common  sense.  Do  these  phrases 
mean  twenty  centuries  or  more  ?     Can  they  mean  that 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  43 

by  any  reasonable  interpretation  ?  Had  we  been  among 
the  hearers  of  our  Lord  or  the  apostles,  could  we  have 
possibly  understood  their  words  in  such  a  meaning? 

2.  The  testimonies  I  have  considered  are,  most  of 
them,  expressed  in  simple^  plain  words.  They  are  not 
clothed  in  figurative  language  or  presented  only 
through  pictures  and  symbols,  like  many  others  used 
in  prophecy.  "Ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities 
of  Israel  till  the  Son  of  man  be  come."  "Some 
standing  here  who  shall  not  taste  death  till  they  see 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  "  The 
Parousia  of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh."  "  I  come  quick- 
ly." "  The  Lord  is  at  hand."  "  In  a  little  little  while, 
he  that  shall  come  will  come  and  will  not  tarry,"  etc. 
Nothing  can  be  more  direct,  literal,  positive.  Mathe- 
matical terms  are  not  less  ambiguous.  Says  Prof. 
Reuss,  "All  these  representations  are  clear  and  simple  ; 
they  have  nothing  equivocal  about  them ;  there  is  not 
a  word  to  suggest  that  there  is  any  hidden  meaning, 
any  mental  reservation,  reducing  their  value  merely 
to  that  of  parable  or  figure.  It  is  evident  that  the 
narrators,  who  serve  as  our  guides,  took  every  word 
literally,  and  had  not  a  shadow  of  doubt  in  reference 
to  the  matter."  Hist.  Ch.  Theology,  p.  214.  Why 
then  should  we  not  receive  them  in  the  same  way  ? 

3.  It  is  certain  that  those  who  heard  the  words  of 
our  Lord  on  the  subject  understood  him  as  teaching 
the  near  approach  of  the  Parousia;  that  they  them- 
selves expected  it;  and  of  course  that  when  they 
referred  to  it  they  meant  to  be  understood  in  the  same 
way.     This  is  now  conceded  by  nearly  all  commenta- 


44  THE  PAROaSIA. 

tors.  The  following  statements  may  be  added  to 
those  already  cited  in  connection  with  the  particular 
passages.  Says  Prof.  Stuart,  "  Tholuck  and  most  of 
the  late  commentators  in  Germany  suppose  that  the 
apostles  expected  the  speedy  advent  upon  earth 
a  second  time."  Com.  on  Rom.  13:  11.  "The 
Messianic  kingdom  begins  by  means  of  the  second 
coming  of  Christ,  which  Paul  regarded  near."  Meyer. 
"All  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  consider 
Christ's  advent  as  near ;  in  fact  the  whole  doctrine 
would  not  have  the  slightest  practical  significance  un- 
less the  longing  after  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
were  each  moment  alive,  and   therefore   continually 

deemed  possible."      Ohhausen^  on  1  Thess.  4 :  15. 

"  That  St.  John,  like  the  other  apostles,  expected  the 
coming  of  Christ  as  nigh  at  hand  is  a  certain  fact." 
Ubrard,  on  1  John.  "  All  the  apostolic  exhortations 
and  consolations  are  so  clearly  connected  with  the 
prospect  of  the  personal  return  of  the  Lord,  that 
whosoever  contradicts  this  last  thereby  takes  away  the 
roof  and  cornice  from  the  structure  of  the  apostolic 
theology."  Van  Oosterzee.  Hist.  II.  p.  581,  "  Cer- 
tainly the  apostles  do  all  of  them  express  often 
enough  the  expectation  of  the  coming  as  near, — a 
living  hope  and  longing  expectation."  Auherlen  in 
Lange's  Com.  1  Thess.  4:  17. — There  can  be  but 
one  reasonable  conclusion  from  these  facts.  For  the 
apostles  were  inspired  men,  expressly  commissioned 
to  teach  what  they  had  received  from  the  Lord.  The 
language  I  have  cited  from  them  was  written  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  was  promised  to 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  45 

"  teach  them  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  their 
remembrance  whatsoever  he  had  said  unto  them." 
John  14 :  26.  If  they,  so  taught  and  so  guided,  un- 
derstood that  the  Parousia  was  at  hand,  then  we  must 
so  understand  it,  or  relinquish  the  belief  of  their  in- 
spiration altogether. 

It  is  curious,  though  not  pleasant,  to  observe  by 
what  methods  those  who  deny  that  the  Parousia  has 
taken  place  endeavor  to  escape  this  conclusion. 
Whenever  these  passages  are  approached,  the  first 
thing  is  to  concede  that  in  words  they  teach  that  doc- 
trine. The  language  is  sufficiently  plain  and  explicit. 
Instead,  however  of  accepting  their  obvious  meaning, 
and  making  less  clearly  taught  truths  conform  to  this, 
they  begin  to  look  around  for  some  way  to  avoid  its 
force.  Some  boldly  say  the  apostles  were  mistaken. 
Thus  Mr.  Barnes :  "  I  do  not  know  that  the  proper 
doctrine  of  inspiration  suffers  if  we  admit  that  the 
apostles  were  ignorant  of  the  exact  time  when  the 
world  would  close,  or  even  that  in  regard  to  the  pre- 
cise period  when  that  would  take  place  theg  might  be 
in  error.'''  Com.  on  1  Cor.  15  :  51.  Inspired  men 
in  error  I  And  that  not  about  matters  outside  of 
religion,  but  about  the  very  things  they  were  com- 
missioned to  teach,  and  which  they  made  the  very 
"  roof  and  cornice "  of  their  theology !  We  cannot 
conceive  of  it.  The  suggestion  shocks  all  our  ideas  of 
inspiration  and  of  the  infallibility  of  the  divine 
Word.  Rather  would  we  say  with  Stuart :  "  It  is 
incredible  that  the  apostles,  if  enlightened  by  super- 
natural influence,  should  not  have  been  taught  better 


46  THE  PAROUSIA. 

than  to  lead  the  whole  Christian  church  to  a  vain  and 
false  hope  about  the  appearance  of  Christ,  which  when 
frustrated  by  time  and  experience  would  lead  of 
course  to  general  distrust  in  all  their  experiences  and 
hopes."  Com.  on  Rom.  13  :  11. — And  then,  what  of 
the  Lord  himself  ?     Was  ITe  in  error  also  ? 

Not  a  few  writers,  hesitating  apparently  to  say  out- 
right that  Paul  was  mistaken,  seek  to  weaken  the 
force  of  his  statements  by  intimating  that  they  are 
found  chiefly  in  his  earlier  einstles^  as  if  the  growing 
wisdom  of  his  later  years  had  corrected,  or  at  least 
abated,  the  fondness  of  his  former  expectations.  Says 
Olshausen^  "  Paul  seems  in  later  times  not  only  to 
give  up  the  hope  of  living  to  see  Christ's  second  com- 
ing himself  (compare  Phil.  1 :  23  with  1  Thess.  4 : 
16,  17),  but  also  to  have  dwelt  less  in  his  teaching  on 
the  near  approach  of  the  outward  kingdom  of  God, 
and  to  have  presented  in  stronger  relief  its  spiritual 
aspects."  So  Alford :  "  I  find  in  the  course  of  St. 
Paul's  epistles  that  expressions  which  occur  in  the 
earlier  ones,  and  seem  to  indicate  expectations  of  his 
almost  immediate  coming,  are  gradually  modified, 
disappear  altogether  from  the  epistles  of  the  impris- 
onment, and  instead  of  them  are  found  others  speaking 
in  a  very  different  strain  of  dissolving  and  being  with 
Christ,  and  passing  through  death  and  the  resurrection 
in  the  latest  epistles."  Proleg.  1  Thess.  Granting 
this,  what  then?  Was  not  Paul  as  truly  inspired 
when  he  wrote  the  earlier  as  the  later  epistles  ?  He 
must  have  been  over  fifty  years  old  when  the  very 
first — 1  Thess. — was  written  ;  he  had  been  preaching 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  47 

the  gospel  nearly  or  quite  twenty  years;  shall  his 
words  be  discredited  because  of  either  youth  or  inex- 
perience ?  Are  not  the  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians 
as  much  the  word  of  God  as  that  to  the  Philippians  ? 
Even  if  he  had  said  less  of  the  Parousia  in  his  later 
than  in  the  earlier  years,  does  it  follow  that  it  was  be- 
cause his  opinion  was  different  ?  I  have  suggested  a 
special  reason  why  he  made  the  subject  so  prominent 
at  Thessalonica,  and  that  is  enough  to  account  fully 
for  any  such  supposed  difference  between  these  and 
the  later  epistles.  Besides,  I  question  not  only  the 
hypothesis  but  the  alleged  fact  itself.  If  Paul's  im- 
prisonment was  in  A.  D.  62-65  then  the  later  epistles 
were  those  addressed  to  the  Ephesians,  Philippians, 
Colossians,  and  Philemon,  and  latest  of  all  to  Timothy 
and  Titus.  But  where  in  all  his  writings  are  there 
stronger  expressions  of  his  hope  and  expectation  than 
in  Phil.  4:  5;  Col.  3:  4;  2  Tim.  4 :  1,  8,  18;  Titus  2 
13  ?  Equally  decided  are  the  passages  quoted  from 
the  Hebrews,  though  both  Alford  and  Olshausen 
doubt  the  Pauline  authorship  of  that  epistle. 

More  reprehensible  even  than  these  is  the  opinion 
avowed  by  Olshausen  that  our  Lord  purposely  used 
language  calculated  to  mislead  his  hearers,  for  the  sake 
of  the  moral  effect  to  be  thus  gained.  The  Parousia, 
though  not  to  occur  for  more  than  sixty  generations, 
''in  its  great  leading  events  is  immediately  associated 
with  the  present,  and  thus  great  impressiveness  is  given 
to  the  entire  portraiture  without  its  treading  too  closely 

upon  the  truth'' "Had  the  Redeemer  intended  to 

say  that  his  coming  was  yet  very  distant" — which  ac- 


48  THE  PAROUSIA. 

cording  to  this  author's  view  was  the  exact  truth, — 
"such  a  statement  would  have  entirely  destroyed  the 
ethical  import  of  the  prophecy,  viz.,  the  incitement  to 
watchfulness  which  it  was  designed  to  produce ;  and 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  so  expressed  himself  as 
to  say  nothing  at  all  about  the  time  when  these  things 
would  come  to  pass,  this  total  silence  would  have  been 
no  less  paralyzing  in  its  influence.  But  the  represen- 
tation given  by  the  Lord  was  so  framed  as  to  act  in  a 
two-fold  way,  first,  to  keep  before  the  mind  the  con- 
stant possibility  of  his  coming,  and  secondly,  to  show 
the  impossibility  of  fixing  upon  a  precise  period." 
Com.  on  Matt.  24 :  36.  That  is  to  say,  neither  silence 
nor  the  exact  truth  would  have  had  the  best  "  ethical 
influence ;"  so  our  Lord  purposely  used  ambiguous  and 
misleading  words  for  the  sake  of  inciting  his  disciples 
to  watchfulness!  What,  1  cannot  help  asking,  must 
be  the  straits  of  a  theory  which  makes  necessary  so 
shocking  an  invention  as  this  ! 

Schott,  Bloom  field,  and  others  seek  to  solve  the  diffi- 
culty by  "a  middle  course,"  supposing  that  Paul  did 
r.  ot  intend  to  teach  that  the  near  approach  of  the  Par- 
ousia  was  certain^  but  only  possible.  "By  speaking 
obscurely,  he  doubtless  meant  to  express  no  certain 
expectation  on  the  subject ;  for  though  he  was  himself 
inclined  to  think  that  some  then  alive  should  witness 
the  coming  of  Christ,  or  at  least,  that  it  was  not  far 
distant,  yet  he  was  well  aware  that  it  was  not  permit- 
ted to  him  to  know  the  times  and  the  seasons  which 
the  Father  had  reserved  to  himself ;  so  we  find  that 
he  sometimes  refutes  those  who  expected  the  Lord's 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  49 

return  to  be  close  at  hand  and  gladly  anticipated  it. 
And  as  the  apostle  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  this 
epistle  was  not  yet  advanced  in  life,  he  might  very 
well  entertain  the  opinion  that  he  should  perhaps  live 

to  see  that  day."     Bloomfield.     1  Thess.  4  :  15. 

Surely  this  is  to  empty  the  solemn  admonitory  words 
of  Paul  of  half  their  meaning.  The  Parousia  only 
mai/  be  near;  which  implies,  of  course,  that  it  may 
not.  The  "ethical"  benefit  of  the  expectation  may 
be  gained,  and  at  the  same  time  his  credit  as  a  prophet 
will  be  saved  if  it  turns  out  to  be  a  mistake  !  Does 
the  Holy  Spirit  guide  men  into  such  double  dealing 
as  that?  Besides,  is  this  a  true  representation  of  the 
facts  ?  Does  Paul  speak  "  obscurely"?  Does  he  intend 
to  affirm  a  bare  possibility  P  Let  the  reader  glance 
again  over  the  passages  I  have  cited,  and  point  if  he 
can  to  one  which  betrays  the  slightest  doubt.  On 
the  contrary,  language  could  not  be  more  forcible  in 
urging  upon  his  readers  the  absolute  certainty  of  the 
great  event  foretold,  and  their  duty  to  "  stand  fast, 
and  hold  the  traditions  they  had  received"  from  him ; 
while  his  fervent  prayer  was  that  the  Lord  would 
"direct  their  hearts  into  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
patient  waiting  for  Christ."  And  I  add,  as  before, 
even  if  the  apostles  did  deem  it  only  "possible,"  was 
the  same  thing  true  of  Christ  himself  ?  Are  his  words, 
prefaced  so  often  with  his  "  verily,  verily,"  uncertain? 
But  the  most  common  and  perhaps  plausible  meth- 
od of  escaping  from  the  obvious  language  of  our 
Lord  and  his  apostles  is  by  resorting  to  the  theory  of 
a  double  sense.     These  prophetic  utterances,  it  is  said, 


50  THE  PAROUSIA. 

had  two  meanings ;  first,  the  apparent  one  which  was 
fulfilled  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ;  and  second- 
ly, within  and  beyond  this,  a  higher  one,  which  awaits 
fulfillment  at  the  end  of  the  world.  This  is  what 
Dean  Alford  calls  "  the  pregnant  meaning  of  proph- 
ecy," and  which  he  applies  to  our  Lord's  great 
discourse  in  Matt.  24th  and  25th  as  follows : — "  Two 
parallel  interpretations  run  through  the  former  part 
as  far  as  verse  28 ;  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and 
the  final  judgment  being  both  enwrapped  in  the 
words,  but  the  former,  in  this  part  of  the  chapter, 
predominating.  Even  in  this  part,  however,  we  can- 
not tell  how  applicable  the  warnings  given  may  be  to 
the  events  of  the  last  times,  in  which  apparently 
Jerusalem  is  to  play  so  distinguished  a  part.  From 
verse  28  the  lesser  subject  begins  to  be  swallowed  up 
by  the  greater,  and  our  Lord's  second  coming  to  be 
the  predominant  theme,  with,  however,  certain  hints 
thrown  back,  as  it  were,  at  the  event  which  was  im- 
mediately in  question ;  till  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
chapter  and  the  whole  of  the  next,  the  second  advent, 
and  at  last  the  final  judgment  ensuing  on  it,  are  the 
subjects."     Com.  Matt.  24:  3. 

Of  the  correctness  of  this  theory  as  a  principle  of 
sound  exegesis,  I  shall  say  but  little.  It  is  entirely 
unsatisfactory  to  my  mind,  and  has  been  strenuously 
controverted  by  some  of  our  ablest  commentators. 
My  objections  to  it  may  be  stated  briefly.  1.  There 
is  no  proof  of  such  double  sense  in  the  Scriptures. 
They  no  where  assert  anything  of  the  sort,  and  give 
no  example  of  an  inspired  person  resorting  to  such  a 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  51 

mode  of  interpretation.  2.  There  is  no  warrant  for  it 
in  the  ordinary  laws  of  language,  except  when  a 
writer  is  professedly  employing  parables,  riddles,  or 
allegories.  3.  The  secondary  and  so  called  higher 
sense  is  wholly  indeterminate.  No  one  can  tell  where 
it  begins  or  ends,  or  how  much  is  included  in  it.  Ob- 
serve in  the  very  example  proposed  by  the  learned 
Dean,  how  exceedingly  indefinite  are  the  metes  and 
bounds  of  the  two  senses ;  indeed,  how  the  mind  of 
the  reader  must  flit  back  and  forth  from  one  to  the 
other,  making  his  imagination  his  only  guide,  and 
confessing  as  he  does,  "  We  cannot  tell  how  applicable 
the  warnings  given  may  be  "  to  the  latter.  4.  The 
principle  is  unsafe.  Scripture  thus  interpreted  be- 
comes susceptible  of  any  and  every  meaning  which 
theory  or  fancy  may  invent.  Witness  the  innumera- 
ble extravagances  which  have  been  put  forth  on  this 
subject  of  the  second  advent,  all  based  on  the  as- 
sumption that  the  Scripture  language  means  some- 
thing over  and  beyond  what  it  seems  to  mean, — 
extravagances  which  have  done  so  much  to  bring  the 
whole  subject  of  eschatology  into  contempt,  and  to 
dishonor  the  word  of  God.  In  the  present  case,  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  neither  the  Lord  nor  his  apostles 
ever  speak  of  but  one  Parousia,  and  never  assign  any 
other  time  for  it,  primary  or  secondary,  than  that 
existing  generation.  If  there  is  to  be  another,  to  oc- 
cur at  some  distant  era  still  future,  that  fact  must  be 
gathered  from  some  other  source  than  their  recorded 
words. 

4.     The  primitive   Christians,  who  had  themselves 


52  THE  PAROUSIA. 

heard  the  preaching  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  under- 
stood them  as  teaching  its  near  approach.  That  such 
was  the  case  with  the  church  in  Thessalonica  is  noto- 
rious. "  As  matter  of  fact,"  says  Alford,  "  the  apostles 
and  ancient  Christians  did  continue  to  expect  the 
Lord's  coming  after  that  generation  had  passed  away." 
— "  This  constant  expectation  of  our  Lord's  coming, 
when  he  shall  be  revealed  in  his  glory  unto  all,  is  one 
of  the  characteristic  features  of  primitive  Christianity." 
Kling,  in  Lange's  Com.  1  Cor.  1 :  7.  Gibbon,  whose 
testimony  as  historian  on  this  point  need  not  be  ques- 
tioned, says,  "  In  the  primitive  church  *  *  *  * 
*  it  was  universally  believed  that  the  end  of  the 
world  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  were  at  hand.  The 
near  approach  of  this  wonderful  event  had  been  predic- 
ted by  the  apostles ;  the  tradition  of  it  had  been  pre- 
served by  their  earliest  disciples,  and  those  who  under- 
stood in  their  literal  sense  the  discourses  of  Christ  him- 
self were  obliged  to  expect  the  second  and  glorious 
coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  clouds  before  that 
generation  was  totally  extinguished  which  had  beheld 
his  humble  condition  upon  earth,  and  which  might  still 
be  witness  of  the  calamities  of  the  Jews  under  Vespas- 
ian or  Hadrian."   Dec.  and  Fall,  ch.  XY. 

I  ask,  then,  how  could  such  an  opinion  have  obtained 
such  an  acceptance  if  it  had  not  in  fact  been  taught  by 
Christ  and  the  apostles  ?  Error  might,  indeed,  spring 
up  here  and  there  in  various  ways,  but  whence  this 
universal  belief?  It  is  often  alleged  that  Paul  wrote 
the  second  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  to  correct  that 
opinion,  and  declare  authoritatively  that  the  Parousia 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  53 

was  not  "at  hand."  If  so,  why  had  not  the  correction 
proved  effective,  both  among  the  Thessalonians  and 
elsewhere  ? — for,  from  the  very  earliest  date,  this  epistle 
was  received  as  of  undoubted  inspiration  in  all  the 
churches.  There  is  but  one  way  of  accounting  for 
this  indisputable  fact.  The  whole  Christian  church 
could  not  have  been  brought  to  receive  as  one  of  its 
fundamental  articles  of  faith  a  doctrine  which  had  not 
come  to  them  from  the  very  fountain  of  all  authority. 

5.  That  the  declarations  of  our  Lord  and  the 
apostles,  which  I  have  cited,  mean  what  they  seem  to 
mean  as  to  the  near  approach  of  the  Parousia  is  evident 
from  the  connection  in  which  they  standi  and  the  pur- 
poses for  which  they  were  uttered.  That  doctrine  is 
rarely  or  never  advanced  in  the  way  of  a  general  di- 
dactive  statement,  but  always  as  having  an  important 
bearing  for  encouragement,  incitement,  or  warning,  on 
some  present  exigency,  in  which  the  very  stress  of 
the  passage  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  Parousia  was  near. 
When  Christ  told  his  disciples  that  he  would  come  in 
the  glory  of  his  Father  to  reward  every  man  according 
to  his  works,  and  added,  that  some  of  them  should  not 
taste  death  till  they  had  seen  it, — what  was  it  but  to 
console  them  with  the  prospect  of  a  speedy  compensa- 
tion for  their  sufferings  ?  Take  away  this  element  of 
speediness,  and  the  promise  is  robbed  of  its  meaning. 
So  with  waiting  and  watching  for  his  coming.  I 
submit  that  it  is  impossible  for  any  person  to  be  in 
such  an  attitude  of  expectancy  toward  any  event 
which  is  indefinitely  distant.  Let  the  reader  try  it 
for  himself.     Let  him  conceive  of  any  great  occurrence, 


54  THE  PABOUSIA. 

however  full  of  weal  or  woe,  that  is  to  happen  two 
thousand  years  hence,  and  see  if  he  can,  by  any  practice 
upon  himself,  come  into  such  a  state  that  he  can  truly 
say  that  he  is  waiting  or  looking  for  it,  or  expecting 
it.  How  could  Paul  be  confident  that  He  who  had 
begun  a  good  work  in  the  Philippians  would  perform 
it  for  more  than  twenty  centuries  to  come?  What 
would  be  the  force  of  such  admonitions  as,  "  Let  your 
moderation  be  known  to  all  men ;  the  Lord  will  come 
two  thousand  years  after  you  are  all  dead  "  ?  "  Grudge 
not  one  against  another  lest  ye  be  condemned ;  the 
Judge,  some  ages  hence,  will  stand  at  the  door"? 
"The  end  of  all  things  is  far  off;  be  ye  therefore 
sober  and  watch  unto  prayer  "  ? 

I  insist  that  it  is  this  very  element  of  nearness 
which  imparts  to  this  entire  body  of  eschatological 
utterances  their  significance.  They  were  not  given 
to  be  dry  didactics  about  the  future,  but  solemn 
warnings  or  inspirations  to  courage,  hope,  and  joy,  for 
present  use.  To  be  such  they  must  be  drawn  from 
events  not  very  far  remote.  Such  is  the  nature  of 
man  that  he  is  and  can  be  but  feebly  impressed  by 
what  is  far  distant  in  space  or  time.  Olshausen 
clearly  recognizes  this  fact  in  his  remark  already 
quoted :  "  Had  the  Redeemer  intended  to  say  that 
his  coming  was  yet  very  far  distant,  such  a  statement 
would  have  entirely  destroyed  the  ethical  import  of 
the  prophecy,  viz.:  the  incitement  to  watchfulness 
which  it  was  designed  to  produce."  Without  it,  "  the 
whole  doctrine  would  not  have  the  slightest  practical 
significance."     This  is  certainly  true,  but  we  cannot 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  55 

admit  the  monstrous  inference  he  derives  from  it, 
that  our  Lord  purposely  used  language  calculated  to 
mislead  his  disciples  for  the  sake  of  that  influence. 
Why  did  not  the  learned  author  see  that  the  very  al- 
ternative he  states  is  a  proof  that  the  event  was  not 
far  distant?  I  believe  that  it  is  just  this,  or  at  least  it 
is  one  of  the  causes,  which  have  made  the  "  gospel  of 
the  kingdom  "  so  ineffective  in  modern  times,  com- 
pared with  what  it  was  in  the  time  of  the  apostles. 
Let  the  Parousia,  as  a  now  existing  fact,  be  preached 
with  as  much  earnestness  as  they  preached  it  as  an 
anticipated  fact, — in  other  words,  that  Christ  has 
come,  that  he  is  now  upon  the  throne  of  his  kingdom, 
ruling,  judging,  and  rewarding  men  according  to  their 
works,  with  his  mighty  angels  attending  him  to  do  his 
will,  and  by  the  new-creating  energy  of  his  provi- 
dence and  Spirit  making  "  all  things  new,"  and  I 
believe  that  the  event  witnessed  on  the  day  of  pente- 
cost,  and  even  greater,  would  speedily  follow. 

SECTION  V. 
OBJECTIONS. 

There  are  objections  to  the  foregoing  view  which  it 
is  my  duty  to  consider. 

1.  The  first  is  that  so  understood  the  prediction 
was  not  fulfilled ;  the  Parousia  did  not  take  place  in 
that  generation.  Says  Alford :  "  All  these  prseterist 
interpretations  have  against  them  one  fatal  objection, 
—that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  as  in  any  sense  corresponding  to  the 
Parousia  in  St.  Paul's  sense  of  the  term." "  The 


56  THE  PAROUSIA. 

destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  inadequate  as  an  interpre- 
tation of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  here.  He  has  not 
yet  come  in  any  sense  adequate  to  such  interpreta- 
tion ;  therefore  the  prophecy  has  yet  to  be  fulfilled." 
Proleg.  2  Tim.  sects.  24,  28.  In  reply  it  may  be 
remarked : — 

First,  that  as  a  principle  of  interpretation  this  is 
unsound  and  unsafe.  If  the  words  of  our  Lord,  ac- 
cording to  the  established  and  undoubted  laws  of 
language,  do  say,  that  the  Parousia  should  be  in  that 
generation,  then  that  was  his  assertion.  If  not  ful- 
filled, it  may  discredit  his  truthfulness,  but  it  does 
not  disprove  the  fact  that  he  said  so.  Failure  to  pay 
a  note  of  hand  when  due,  does  not  prove  that  pa3^ment 
at  that  time  was  not  promised.  The  learned  dean 
himself  strenuously  contends  for  this  principle  in  other 
places.  Often  things  are  said  in  the  New  Testament, 
to  be  done  "  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  "  (rV«  7[)j]pcod^7j) 
which  had  been  spoken  by  a  prophet,  when  on  com- 
paring the  event  with  the  alleged  prediction  we  find 
it  impossible  to  see  Jioiv  one  was  the  fulfillment  of  the 
other.  Yet  Dean  Alford  insists  that  we  must  so  ac- 
cept it,  whatever  the  difficulty.  He  will  not  permit 
us  to  evade  the  force  of  the  words  by  a  hair's 
breadth.  "Such  a  construction"  he  says,  (that  it 
might  be  fulfilled),  "can  have  but  one  meaning.  If 
such  meaning  involves  us  in  difficulty  regarding  the 
prophecy  itself,  far  better  leave  such  difficulty  in  so 
doubtful  a  matter  as  the  interpretation  of  prophecy 
unsolved,  than  create  one  in  so  simple  a  matter  as  the 
rendering  of  a  phrase  whose  meaning  no  indifferent 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  57 

person  could  doubt."  Com.  Matt.  1 :  22.  This  is  a 
weighty  observation,  and  most  worthy  to  be  remem- 
bered. Had  the  author  himself  observed  it,  he  would 
not  have  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  meaning  of  this 
prophecy  of  the  Parousia,  which  is  affirmed  by  a 
multitude  of  phrases  no  less  simple,  no  less  impossible 
to  be  doubted  by  any  indifferent  person,  than  the 
one  to  which  he  referred. 

Second.  It  is  not,  I  submit,  competent  for  any  un- 
inspired man  to  say  what  is  and  what  is  not  an  "ade- 
quate "  fulfillment  of  prophecy,  against  the  pointed  in- 
dications contained  in  its  own  language.  There  cer- 
tainly did  happen  in  that  generation  an  event  or 
cluster  of  events,  which,  considered  in  their  own  na- 
ture and  in  their  relations  to  the  history  of  mankind 
past  and  future,  surpassed  in  importance  every  other 
that  can  be  named,  save  only  the  death  of  Christ. 
That  great  spiritual  and  civil  establishment,  the  He- 
brew theocracy,  which  created  at  once  a  religion  and 
a  state,  founded  by  the  direct  appointment  of  Jeho- 
vah amid  the  visible  splendors  of  Sinai,  and  hallowed 
by  a  duration  of  sixteen  hundred  years, — an  institu- 
tion represented  in  Christ's  time  in  the  grandest  city 
and  most  august  temple  in  the  world, — was  suddenly, 
and  with  such  horrors  as  never  attended  any  like 
catastrophe,  overthrown,  and  in  place  of  it  was  set 
up  another  theocracy,  a  spiritual  kingdom,  which  from 
that  hour,  like  the  stone  cut  out  without  hands,  en- 
tered upon  a  career  of  development  and  conquest 
which  shall  one  day  fill  the  whole  earth ;  whose  capital 
shall  be  a  "New  Jerusalem "  ten  thousand  times  ex- 
4 


68  THE  PAROUSIA. 

ceeding  the  old  one  in  splendor  and  power,  into  which 
the  kings  of  the  earth  shall  bring  their  glory  and 
honor ;  whose  temple  shall  be  the  Presence  of  God 
and  the  Lamb,  and  where  Jesus  shall  reign  forever. 
Who  shall  say  that  such  an  event,  or  cluster  of  events, 
was  "  inadequate  "  to  the  most  exalted  conception  of 
the  language  employed  by  our  Saviour  ?  We  call  it, 
indeed,  for  convenience  sake,  the  "  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem," from  one  of  the  incidents  embraced  in  it, 
but  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  that  bare 
physical  event, — which  in  itself  may  or  may  not  have 
been  more  important  than  that  of  other  cities  before 
or  after, — was  all  that  we  mean  by  it.  And  with  all 
respect  for  this  great  commentator,  I  must  beg  leave 
to  say  that,  precisely  in  the  same  way  that  he  has 
done,  might  a  rabbi  of  our  Saviour's  own  day  have 
disproved  the  fact  of  his  first  advent.  Had  not  all 
the  prophets  declared  that  the  Messiah  should  come  as 
a  mighty  and  triumphant  king  ?  And  was  the  poor 
Galilean  who  stood  bound  before  Pilate,  forsaken  by 
his  nearest  friends,  and  scornfully  rejected  by  the  very 
people  whom  he  claimed  as  his  subjects,  that  king? 
"It  is  impossible,"  Caiaphas  might  have  said,  "to 
conceive  of  this  Jesus  as  in  any  sense  corresponding 

to  the  prophetic  descriptions  of  our  Messiah. He 

has  not  come  in  any  sense  adequate  to  those  descrip- 
tions; therefore,  this  is  not  the  Messiah,  and  the 
prophecies  have  yet  to  be  fulfilled !  " 

2.  Another  objection  of  a  similar  character  is,  that 
the  Parousia  was  to  be  accompanied  by  stupendous 
physical  phenomena^  which  did  not  occur  in  that  age. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAR0U8IA,  59 

The  sun  and  moon  should  be  darkened ;  the  stars 
should  fall  from  Heaven ;  the  Son  of  man  should  be 
seen  coming  in  the  clouds  with  power  and  great  glory ; 
he  should  be  attended  with  his  mighty  angels,  and 
with  the  great  sound  of  a  trumpet;  the  heavens 
should  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  the  elements 
melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  and  the  works  that 
are  therein  should  be  burned  up  ;  and  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  created.  Because  all  this  did  not 
happen  in  that  generation,  therefore,  it  is  alleged,  the 
Parousia  did  not  take  place. 

Now  I  freely  concede  that  the  prophecy  was  not 
fulfilled  in  the  physical  sense  of  these  terms.  I  admit 
fully  the  incompatibility  between  it  and  any  such  ful- 
fillment. What  then  is  the  inference?  The  same 
that  every  one  makes,  that  the  language  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other  must  be  taken  in  some  modified  sense 
that  will  obviate  this  contradiction.  Which  shall  it 
be  ?  On  the  side  of  the  prediction,  the  language,  as 
we  have  seen,  is  simple,  direct,  plain ;  it  is  scarcely 
susceptible  of  a  figurative  meaning ;  it  is  repeated  in  a 
great  many  forms,  more  than  fourscore  times ;  and  we 
know  what  meaning  it  bore  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
uttered  and  those  who  heard  it.  On  the  other  side,  we 
find  the  language  poetic,  symbolic,  in  itself  absolutely 
incapable  of  being  taken  literally.  The  stars  to  fall 
from  heaven, — the  uncounted  millions  of  mighty  suns 
to  leave  their  constellations  and  galaxies  and  take 
their  flight  to  this  little  earth  ?  Impossible  !  The 
moon  to  be  turned  into  blood, — a  vast  globe  of  clotted 
gore  ?     The  sun  turned  into  darkness  f    The  elements, 


60  THE  PABOUSIA. 

— earth,  air,  fire,  and  water — to  melt  9  The  heavens, 
— the  emptiness  of  infinite  space  showing  to  us  only 
the  reflected  blue  of  the  sunlight — to  be  rolled  togeth- 
er as  a  scroll  ?  Certainly  not.  In  their  very  nature 
all  these  expressions  are  figurative.  They  must,  be- 
cause of  their  appropriate  symbolism,  or  of  ancient 
prophetic  usage,  be  understood  as  referring  to  great 
moral  changes  on  the  earth,  just  such  as  we  have  de- 
scribed as  connected  with  what  is  called  concisely  the 
"destruction  of  Jerusalem."  I  shall  endeavor  to 
show,  hereafter,  that  such  was  their  well-known  pro- 
phetic usage,  as  familiar  to  and  as  incapable  of  being 
misapprehended  by  the  Jews  of  Christ's  time  as  their 
commonest  dialect  on  religious  topics,  and  in  that 
sense  they  were  all  most  signally  fulfilled. 

3.  It  is  objected  further,  in  the  same  line,  that  the 
Parousia  of  Christ  was  to  be  accompanied  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  day  of  judgment,  the  end 
of  the  world,  etc.,  and  as  these  did  not  occur  in  that 
age,  the  Parousia  itself  could  not  have  taken  place. 
This  is  probably  the  most  formidable  objection  that 
has  been  or  can  be  urged  against  the  views  I  have 
maintained.  But  the  difficulty,  to  my  view,  lies  in 
the  restricted  ideas  which  we  have  been  so  accustomed 
to  give  to  the  Parousia,  limiting  it  without  warrant  to 
a  brief  time,  as  a  single  day,  or  a  point  in  duration. 
The  word  itself,  as  I  have  already  shown,  conveys  no 
such  limited  meaning;  rather  does  it  denote  relations 
of  permanence  with  men, — an  abiding  Pbesence, 
which,  beginning  with  the  overthrow  of  the  ancient 
dispensation,  its  sacred  city  and  its  temple,  once  the 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  61 

dwelling  place  of  Jehovah  but  now  "left  to  them 
desolate,"  is  to  last  as  long  as  the  Messiah  reigns ; 
long  enough  for  the  spiritual  conquest  of  the  world, 
for  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment ;  long  enough 
to  find  its  most  glorious  realization  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem, which  John  himself  represents  to  be  "the 
tabernacle  of  God  with  men,  in  which  he  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  him- 
self shall  BE  WITH  THEM  and  be  their  God." 

4.  It  is  urged  that  the  view  I  have  presented  is  in- 
consistent with  Acts  1 :  11,  which,  it  is  said,  teaches 
that  Christ's  second  coming  was  to  be  a  visible  and 
bodily  one^  which  certainly'  has  not  as  yet  taken  place, 
and  must  therefore  be  still  future.  "  Ye  men  of  Gali- 
lee, why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  This  same 
Jesus  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall 
so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into 
heaven."  Adventists  and  Millenarians  generally  rely 
upon  this  passage  in  support  of  their  views,  with 
great  confidence. 

The  meaning  of  this  declaration  depends  on  the 
phrase  "  in  like  manner," — Greek,  hon  tropon.  I  can- 
not deny  that  many  able  commentators  give  it  the 
signification  above  mentioned.  Prof.  Hackett  says, 
"  The  expression  is  never  employed  to  affirm  merely 
the  certainty  of  an  event  as  compared  with  another. 
The  assertion  that  the  meaning  is  simply  that,  as 
Christ  had  departed  so  also  would  he  return,  is  contra- 
dicted by  every  passage  in  which  the  phrase  occurs." 
Alford :  "  To  be  taken  in  all  cases  literally,  not  as  im- 
plying mere  certainty."     And  Prof.  Alexander  ;  "  The 


62  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Greek  phrase,  hon  tropon,  never  indicates  mere 
certainty  or  vague  resemblance,  but  wherever  it  occurs 
in  the  New  Testament  denotes  identity  of  mode  or 
manner." 

It  may  perhaps  be  deemed  presumption  for  me  to 
call  in  question  the  critical  opinion  of  scholars  like 
these,  but  as  they  themselves  appeal  to  the  other  pas- 
sages where  the  phrase  occm-s,  we  may  venture  to  accept 
the  appeal  and  judge  for  ourselves.  The  expression 
occurs  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament  four  times,  viz. 
Matt.  23  :  37;  Luke  13  :  34 ;  Acts  T  :  28 ;  2  Tim.  3 :  8. 

The  first  two  instances  may  be  regarded  as  identical. 
"  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, — how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together  even  as — hon  tropon — 
a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  but  ye 
would  not ! "  Now  I  submit  to  my  readers  whether 
our  Saviour  meant  to  say  that  he  had  longed  to  gather 
the  wayward  people  of  Jerusalem  under  his  sheltering 
care,  in  an  "  identity  of  mode  or  manner  "  with  that 
in  which  a  hen  broods  over  her  chickens.  Surely  not. 
Undoubtedly  more  is  meant  than  the  simple  certainty 
of  the  act ;  it  implies  equal  tenderness  and  faithfulness, 
but  it  does  not  imply  an  exact  resemblance  in  the  form 
of  it. 

The  next  passage  occurs  in  Stephen's  rehearsal  of 
the  scene  between  Moses  and  the  Egyptian  in  the  desert. 
"  Wilt  thou  kill  me  as — hon  tropon — thou  didst  the 
Egyptian  yesterday?"  Here  again  I  ask,  was  the  mind 
of  the  inquirer  fixed  on  the  mode  of  the  apprehended 
killing,  or  on  its  certainty  as  a  fact  ?  Was  he  solicitous 
to  know  whether  it  was  to  be  done  with  staff  or  dagger, 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAB0U8IA.  63 

and  the  body  buried  in  the  sand,  or  simply  whether 
it  was  to  be  done,  without  reference  to  manner  ?  The 
latter,  most  certainly.  The  force  of  the  comparison 
rests  in  the  anticipated  repetition  of  the  act,  not  its 
identity  of  form. 

The  remaining  passage  also  relates  to  an  incident 
in  the  life  of  Moses.  "  Now  as — hon  tropon — Jannes 
and  Jambres  withstood  Moses,  so  do  these  also  resist 
the  truth."  These  are  the  traditional  names  of  the 
magicians  who  imitated  in  the  presence  of  Pharaoh 
the  miracles  wrought  by  God's  servant.  Ex.  7 :  11,  22. 
But  surely  it  will  not  be  alleged  that  the  false  teachers 
whom  the  apostle  condemns  opposed  the  truth  pre- 
cisely in  the  same  way  that  the  magicians  did,  viz.,  by 
changing  rods  into  serpents  and  the  waters  of  the  Nile 
into  blood.  The  point  of  comparison  in  Paul's  mind 
was  in  the  fact  of  opposition,  possibly  with  the  further 
idea  of  malice  and  evil  design,  but  it  could  not  have 
meant  to  include  the  outward  form  or  method  of  pro- 
cedure. 

Besides  these  instances  in  the  New  Testament,  the 
same  phrase  is  several  times  found  in  the  Septuagint. 
Gen.  26  :  29.  "  That  thou  wilt  do  us  no  hurt,  as  we 
have  not  touched  thee,  and  as — hon  tropon — we  have 
done  unto  thee  nothing  but  good."  Isa.  33:  4. 
"  Your  spoil  shall  be  gathered  like  the  gathering  of 
the  caterpillar,  as — hon  tropon — the  running  to  and 
fro  of  locusts  shall  he  run  upon  them."  2  Mace.  15 : 
39.  "  As — hon  tropon — wine  mingled  with  water  is 
pleasant  and  delightful  to  the  taste,  even  so  speech 
finely  framed  delighteth  the  ears  of  them  that  read 


64  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  story."  In  these  again,  as  in  the  former  instances, 
the  point  of  the  comparison  is  in  the  similarity  of  the 
results,  and  not  in  any  identity  of  the  outward  act. 

Instead,  then,  of  this  Greek  phrase  meaning  what 
is  alleged  in  every  place  where  it  occurs,  we  find  in 
fact  that  it  never  means  that ;  that  such  meaning,  if 
put  upon  it,  would  be  absurd  and  impossible.  It 
must  have  been  by  inadvertence,  without  an  actual 
examination  of  the  point,  that  the  eminent  scholars 
named  gave  their  opinion  as  they  did.  We  take  the 
liberty  to  offset  them  by  the  statement  of  another 
equally  eminent,  whose  competence  as  a  critic  of  the 
Greek  none  will  question,  the  late  Professor  Crosby  of 
Dartmouth  College.  "  In  reading  this  passage  we  are 
in  danger  of  attaching  more  force  to  the  expression 
in  our  version,  '  in  like  manner  as,'  than  the  original 
words — hon  tropon — require.  These  words  have  no 
necessary  reference  to  the  particular  manner  in  which 
a  thing  is  done.''''     Sec.  Advent,  p.  15. 

It  turns  out  then  in  this  case,  as  in  not  a  few  others, 
that  the  materialistic  aspect  of  this  passage  is  due 
rather  to  its  peculiar  rendering  in  our  English  version, 
than  to  the  exact  meaning  of  the  original.  Had  our 
translators  been  uniform  in  their  renderings,  giving 
the  phrase  here  precisely  as  they  did  in  every  other 
instance  in  the  New  Testament,  that  aspect  would  not 
have  appeared.* 

*  This  will  be  more  apparent  if  the  several  passages  be  shown 
side  by  side.  Two  of  them  present  the  comparison  in  the  nat- 
ural order. 

Luke  13:  34. 
How  often  would  I  have  gath-    as  a  hen  doth  gather  her  brood 
ered  thy  children  together  under  her  wings. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  65 

And  does  not  the  passage  itself  bear  upon  the  face 
of  it  that  it  is  not  to  be  so  interpreted  ?  "  He  shall 
so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go."  But 
he  departed,  as  the  narrative  implies,  under  the  same 
physical  form  that  he  had  worn  ever  since  his  resur- 
rection. He  had  been  conversing  with  his  disciples 
in  his  usual  manner.  There  is  not  the  slightest  inti- 
mation that,  so  long  as  he  remained  visible,  there  was 
any  other  than  his  usual  aspect.  As  he  went  up  "  a 
cloud  received  him,"  and  that  was  all.  But  is  that 
the  way  he  is  to  come  again  ? — that  the  fulfillment  of 
the  sublime  language  in  which  his  return  is  elsewhere 
set  forth,  "  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,"  "  with  his 
mighty  angels,"  the  "  flaming  fire,"  "  the  voice  of  the 
archangel  and  the  trump  of  God  ? "  Insist  upon  it 
that  exact  "  identity  of  form  and  manner  "  is  meant, 
and  you  place  this  text  in  irreconcilable  contradiction 
with  every  other  which  describes  the  ineffable  majesty 
of  his  appearing. 

4.  But  the  objection  most  frequently  and  most 
confidently  urged  is  derived  from  the  language  of  the 
apostle  in  2  Thess.  2 :  1-12.     We  give  the  essential 

Acts  7:  28. 
Wilt  thou  kill  me  as  thou  didst  the  Egyptian  yes- 

terday ? 
The  other  two  place  the  second  part  of  the  comparison 
first. 

2  Tim.  3:  8. 
Now  as  Jannes  and  Jambres      so    do    these    also    resist    the 
withstood  Moses,  truth. 

Acts  1  :  11. 
This  same  Jesus — as  ye  have      so  shall  he  come, 
seen  him  go  into  heaven, 


66  THE  PAROUSIA. 

part  of  the  passage  in  Alford's  translation.  "But 
we  entreat  you,  brethren,  in  regard  of  the  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  our  gathering  together 
unto  him, — in  order  that  ye  should  not  be  lightly 
shaken  from  your  mind  nor  troubled,  neither  by  spirit, 
nor  by  word,  nor  by  epistle  as  from  us,  to  the  effect 
that  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  present.  Let  no  man  de- 
ceive you  in  any  manner,  for  [that  day  shall  not 
come]  unless  there  have  come  the  apostasy  first,  and 
there  have  been  revealed  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of 
perdition,"  etc. 

Such  is  the  language  which  it  is  so  often  said,  ex- 
pressly contradicts  the  doctrine  of  the  near  approach 
of  the  Parousia.  We  ask  the  reader  to  note  on  the 
very  face  of  it  how  far  it  is  from  justifying  the  state- 
ments which  have  been  based  upon  it.  "  He  warns 
them  against  the  expectation  of  the  speedy  advent  of 
Christ."^  "  We  find  that  he  sometimes  refutes  those 
who  expected  the  Lord's  return  to  be  close  at  hand 
and  gladly  anticipated  it."^  "  This  interpretation  (of 
the  speedy  advent  of  Christ  upon  earth  a  second  time) 
was  formally  and  strenuously  corrected  in  2  Thess. 
2."« 

What  then  was  the  error  which  these  Thessalonians 
held?  Our  English  version  has  it,  "that  the  day  of 
the  Lord  is  at  handy  The  true  reading,  however  is, 
is  come.  "  Not  only  the  nearness  but  the  actual  pres- 
ence and  commencement  of  the   day,"  says  EUicott. 

«  Hodge  Com.  on  1  Cor.  15 :  51. 

^  Bloomfield  in  loc. 

<^  Stuart  Com.  on  Rom.  13: 10. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAR0U8IA.  67 

"Is  present,"  says  Auberlen.*  He  adds,  "The  apos- 
tle does  not  intend  generally  to  put  far  away  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  last  day.  We  are  merely  not  to  let 
ourselves  be  surprised  by  the  cry,  'ffere  it  is  now!^^^ 
Alford  says,  "  Is  present,  not  is  at  hand.  St.  Paul 
could  not  have  so  written,  nor  could  the  Spirit  have 
so  spoken  by  him.  The  teaching  of  the  apostle  was, 
and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  all  ages,  has  been,  that  the 
day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand.  But  these  Thessalonians 
imagined  it  to  be  already  come,  and  accordingly  were 
deserting  their  pursuits  in  life,  and  falling  into  other 
irregularities,  as  if  the  day  of  grace  were  closed." 

The  expectation  of  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord, 
then,  was  not  the  error  into  which  these  Christians 
had  fallen,  nor  which  the  apostle  here  corrected.  On 
the  contrary,  in  this  very  chapter  he  reiterates  the 
command  to  "  stand  fast  and  hold  the  traditions  which 
ye  have  been  taught,  whether  by  word  or  our  epistle," 
i.  e.  to  be  in  the  attitude  of  "  waiting  for  his  Son  from 
heaven,"  which  he  had  preached  to  them  at  first,  and 
so  forcibly  enjoined  upon  them  in  his  former  letter. 

But  the  "falling  away"  and  the  "man  of  sin" 
must  precede  the  Parousia.  How  can  that  be  made 
consistent  with  the  theory  of  his  speedy  coming? 

This  epistle  was  written  in  the  year  A.  D.  53.  Je- 
rusalem was  destroyed  in  A.  D.  70.  Assuming  this 
to  have  been  synchronous  with  the  Parousia,  we  have 
a  period  of  seventeen  years  during  which  these  events, 
on  the  theory  I  maintain,  must  have  occurred. 
What  was  there  in  that  period  at  all  answering  to  the 

^  In  Lange's  Com. 


68  THE  PABOUSIA. 

description  of  those  things  contained  in  this  chapter? 
First  the  "falling  away," — Greek,  the  apostasy.  In 
the  original,  the  article  prefixed  shows  it  was  some 
known  and  definite  event,  one  that  had  been  before 
spoken  of,  and  which  the  Thessalonians  would  recog- 
nize, needing  no  other  designation  than  ''Hhe  apos- 
tasy." Now  we  find  in  Matt.  24:  10-12  that  this 
was  one  of  the  very  things  which  our  Saviour 
expressly  said  should  precede  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem. "Then  shall  many  be  offended,"  i.  e. 
caused  to  stumble  or  apostatize,  "  and  shall  betray  one 
another  and  shall  hate  one  another.  And  many  false 
prophets  shall  arise  and  shall  deceive  many.  And  be- 
cause iniquity  shall  abound  the  love  of  many  shall 
wax  cold."  And  that  such  a  defection  actually  oc- 
curred among  the  infant  churches  during  this  very 
period  is  a  matter  of  history.  Tacitus,  in  describing 
the  persecution  under  Nero,  says,  "  Those  who  con- 
fessed they  were  Christians  were  first  brought  to  trial, 
and  after  that  a  vast  multitude  of  others  in  conse- 
quence of  their  testimony,''''^  Frequent  allusions  are 
made  in  the  later  epistles,  written  from  A.  D.  55  to 
A.  D.  65,  to  the  dangers  of  such  an  apostasy.  See 
especially  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  chaps,  iii,  vi,  and  xii,  the  second  epistle 
of  Peter,  and  the  epistles  of  the  Apocalypse  to  the 
seven  churches  of  Asia.  Who  can  doubt,  then,  that 
the  apostle  who  had  preached  to  the  Thessalonians  so 
fully  the  coming  of  Christ,  as  predicted  in  this  dis- 

*  Primo  correpti  qtrt  fatebantur,  deinde  indicio  eorum  multi- 
tude ingens.     Annalxv:44. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAB0U8IA.  69 

course  in  Matthew,  had  told  them  of  this  great  defec- 
tion, of  which  he  now  reminds  them  again,  as  "the 
apostasy "  which  must  precede  that  coming,  an  event 
whose  occurrence  in  those  very  seventeen  years  is  as 
clearly  established  in  history  as  that  of  the  wars  and 
famines  and  earthquakes  that  were  mentioned  in  the 
same  connection."^ 

Secondly  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  called  also  in  verse  8, 
"that  Wicked,"  (Gr.  6  ''Apo/uoc:,  the  Lawless  One). 
In  attempting  to  show  whom  Paul  meant  by  these  ap- 
pellations I  would  speak  with  becoming  diffidence, 
where  the  ablest  commentators  of  every  age  have  been 
so  much  puzzled.  Apart  from  that  fact,  however,  I 
confess  it  does  not  seem  to  be  such  an  unresolvable 
mystery.  Three  things  I  think  ought  to  concur  in 
the  solution.  1.  The  man  of  sin  must  be  a  person.^ 
It  seems  to  me  very  unnatural  to  suppose  that  Paul 
meant  to  designate  in  such  terms  a  mere  abstract  prin- 
ciple of  evil,  such  as  a  heresy  in  doctrine,  or  a  long 
succession  of  evil  doers,  like  the  popes.  2.  He  must  be 
one  in  such  position  and  holding  such  relations  to  the 

*It  is  surprising  what  assertions  the  most  eminent  writers 
often  make  under  the  influence  of  a  pre-accepted  theory.  Thus 
Olshausen,  who  denies  the  fulfillment  of  this  prophecy  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  says,  "The  persecutions  of  that 
period  were  not  so  violent  as  to  drive  many  away  from  the 
faith,  and  from  the  first  glow  of  love."  (Com.  on  Matt.  24:  11- 
13).  Yet  among  these  persecutions  was  that  of  Nero,  A.  D. 
64r-68.  If  he  deems  this  not  a  "violent"  one,  it  would  be  inter- 
esting to  learn  his  idea  of  violence. 

^  They — the  early  fathers — all  regard  the  Adversary  here  de- 
scribed as  an  individual  person,  the  incarnation  and  concentra- 
tion of  sin."     Alford.     Prolog  on  2  Thess,,  53. 


70  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Thessalonians  as  to  be  an  object  of  apprehension  to 
them  personally.  What  can  be  more  improbable  than 
that  Paul,  writing  a  brief  letter  to  these  friends  of  his 
on  matters  of  the  most  practical  character,  should  in- 
terpose among  its  affectionate  counsels  a  formal 
prophecy  of  some  disastrous  event  that  should  hap- 
pen in  distant  ages  and  lands, — if  the  papacy,  at  least 
five  hundred — ^if  something  even  now  future,  two 
thousand  years  after  their  day,  and  with  which  they 
had  no  more  to  do  practically  than  we  have  with  what 
may  happen  in  Ethiopia  twenty  centuries  hence  ?  3. 
He  must  be,  nevertheless,  one  whom  for  some  reason 
it  would  be  unsafe  or  improper  to  name  more  definite- 
ly,— who  might  be  referred  to  only  under  these  enig- 
matic terms,  which,  however,  the  Thessalonians  would 
readily  understand,  on  recalling  what  the  apostle  had 
said  to  them  the  year  before  when  he  was  present 
with  them. 

Taking  these,  then,  as  our  clew,  we  are  conducted 
at  once  to  the  emperor  Neko,  as  the  monster  in  whom 
all  the  probabilities  of  the  case  meet.  He  was  a  per- 
son whose  character  and  acts  fully  entitled  him  to  be 
called  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  and  the  "  Lawless  One."  His 
imperial  dignity  and  resistless  power  over  both  Rome 
and  the  provinces  made  him  one  to  be  eminently  feared 
throughout  the  empire  ;  and  being  such  he  could  not 
be  spoken  of  in  any  but  the  most  guarded  terms  on 
penalty  of  treason.  And  the  sequel  showed  that  there 
were  good  reasons  why  the  Thessalonians  should  be 
admonished  of  the  perils  impending  over  them  under 
his  reign  and  over  all  the  churches.     Nero  ascended 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  71 

the  throne  the  next  year  after  this  epistle  was  written, 
and  ten  years  later  broke  forth  in  the  most  terrible 
persecution  against  the  Christians  recorded  in  history. 
Well  might  the  prophetic  pen  of  the  apostle  warn  that 
beloved  infant  church  of  the  dangers  which  lay  just 
before  them,  and  bid  them  strive  by  the  cultivation  of 
their  own  faith  and  steadfastness  to  prepare  themselves 
for  it,  rather  than  run  into  extravagances  of  joy  as  if 
already  entering  on  the  experience  of  promises  which 
could  not  be  fulfilled  for  almost  a  score  of  years  to 
come.^ 

Assuming  this,  then,  to  be  the  right  solution  of  this 
much  controverted  passage,  it  ceases  to  be  in  the 
slightest  degree  opposed  to  the  doctrine  I  have  main- 
tained of  the  early  manifestation  of  the  Parousia.  I 
am  confident  that  this  interpretation  cannot  be  refuted ; 
I  am  sure  that  it  is  both  natural  and  probable.  The 
very  coincidences  in  time,  personal  characteristics,  acts, 
and  effects  are,  to  say  the  least,  striking ;  not  only 
not  tending  to  disprove  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord, 
but  falling  in  exactly  with  the  scope  of  the  predictions 
concerning  it  as  first  given  by  Christ  himself,  and 
afterward  repeated  by  all  the  apostles.^ 

We  regard,  then,  this  part  of  the  true  doctrine  of 

^•It  was  the  common  view  of  the  Fathers  that  by  saying  "the 
mystery  of  lawlessness  doth  already  work,"  Paul  meant  N"ero. 
So  say  Victorinus,  Hilary,  Chrysostom,  Jerome.  Augustine  and 
Theodoret  also  mention  it. — A  great  many  moderns  have  fol- 
lowed this  view, — Lyranus,  Erasmus,  Gagney,  Guilland,  Cornel- 
ius a  Lapide,  etc.  Dollinger,  " First  Age  of  the  church"  Yol 2. 
p.  61.  Note. 

''For  a  fuller  exhibition  of  the  view  thus  presented  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  Appendix. 


72  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  Parousia  as  demonstrated.  If  the  declarations  of 
our  Lord  and  of  his  apostles,  repeated  in  numberless 
instances  and  in  the  greatest  variety  of  forms,  express- 
ly and  incidentally,  positively  and  negatively,  during 
the  whole  period  from  before  the  crucifixion  to  the 
very  eve  of  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem,  always  affirm- 
ing the  near  approach  of  the  Parousia,  never  in  a  sin- 
gle instance  saying  or  implying  that  it  was  to  be  far 
distant,  can  establish  any  truth  on  immovable  founda- 
tions, they  have  established  this.  Whatever  else  about 
the  Parousia  is  unrevealed  or  obscure,  it  is  not  this 
particular  of  the  time, — I  mean  of  course  within  the 
specified  limits  of  that  "  generation."  Not  the  fact  of 
the  Parousia  itself  is  more  clearly  asserted  than  this 
concomitant  of  it.  Not  that  fact  is  made  more  use  of 
"  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness,"  than  this  element  of  its  speedi- 
ness.  If  any  other  things  in  or  about  the  doctrine 
seem  inconsistent  with  this  they  must  be  modified  to 
harmonize  with  it,  not  it  with  them.  If  there  be  a 
foundation  text  in  all  the  Bible  where  we  can  build 
the  superstructure  of  doctrine  securely,  it  is  those 
words  of  the  Lord : — 

"Verily  I  say  unto  you,   This  generation 

SHALL  NOT  PASS  TILL  ALL  THESE  THINGS  BE  FUL- 
FILLED.    Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SCOPE   OF  THE  PAROUSIA. 

It  has  been  already  intimated  that  much  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  reaching  any  consistent  view  of  the  Parou- 
sia  has  arisen  from  the  impression  that  it  was  to  occupy 
only  a  brief  space  of  time,  rather  than  a  long  period. 
Perhaps  our  English  version  has  strengthened  if  not 
created  that  impression,  by  uniformly  translating  the 
Greek  preposition  £v,  in  this  connection,  by  at^  a  word 
that  we  apply  rather  to  a  point  of  time  than  a  pro- 
longed duration.  To  say  that  something  shall  occur 
at  Christ's  coming  conveys  a  perceptibly  different 
shade  of  meaning  from  saying  it  shall  take  place  in  or 
during  his  presence.  Yet  a  mere  glance  at  a  Greek 
Concordance  will  show  that  the  instances  in  which  the 
word  elsewhere  means  and  is  rendered  in  are  at  least 
ten  times  as  numerous  as  where  it  means  and  is  trans- 
lated at.  Why  the  translators  always  gave  it  this  com- 
paratively infrequent  signification,  in  this  connection, 
does  not  appear. 

This  protracted  duration  of  the  Parousia  is  a  fact 
of  so  much  importance,  that  it  deserves  particular 
consideration. 

If  we  wished  to  measure  the  breadth  of  the  ocean, 
we  should  carefully  determine  the  exact  positions  of 
points  known  to  lie  upon  its  shores,  or  to  be  included 


74  THE  PAROUSIA. 

within  its  expanse.  Having  the  longitude  of  New 
York  and  the  longitude  of  Gibraltar,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  compute  from  these  with  great  accuracy  the  dis- 
tance between  them  ;  in  other  words,  the  dimensions 
of  the  space  intervening.  So  there  are  certain  things 
which  it  is  expressly  declared  shall  take  place  in  or 
during  the  Parousia  (iv  zjj  naftouaia')  that,  if  we  mis- 
take not,  will  no  less  surely  guide  us  to  a  correct  idea 
of  its  duration. 

1.  The  first,  as  all  know,  was  the  establishment  of 
the  new  "kingdom  of  heaven."  The  old  theocracy 
founded  by  Moses  was  to  pass  away,  and  be  succeeded 
by  a  new  one  of  a  more  comprehensive  sway  and  a 
higher  glory.  "  They  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  com- 
ing in  his  kingdom."  Matt.  16 :  28.  "  Ye  shall  see  the 
Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power  and 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  Matt.  26  :  64. 

2.  A  second  thing  to  occur  in  the  Parousia  was 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Matt.  24 :  27,  34.  Let 
it  be  observed  that  this  prediction  is  not  in  that  part 
of  the  chapter  which  many  suppose  refers  to  the  day 
of  judgment,  but  in  that  which  is  universally  conceded 
to  relate  to  the  overthrow  of  the  temple  and  city. 

3.  The  destruction  of  the  Man  of  Sin.  "  Whom  the 
Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth  and 
shall  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his  Parousia." 
2  Thess.  2 :  8.  If  the  view  I  have  presented  of  this 
personage  be  accepted, — the  view  which  generally  pre- 
vailed among  the  early  Fathers,  and  is  confirmed  by 
some  of  the  ablest  historians  of  modern  times, — we 
see  a  literal  fulfillment  of  the  promises  in  the  events 


SCOPE  OF  TUE  PABOUSIA.  75 

of  the  same  great  catastrophe.  In  the  midst  of  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  very  flush  of  his  power, 
Nero  was  suddenly  hurled  from  the  throne  he  disgraced, 
and  died  like  a  dog  in  one  of  the  sewers  of  Rome.  If 
we  take  the  more  common  Protestant  view  of  the  Man 
of  Sin  as  denoting  the  papacy,  the  argument  becomes 
still  stronger.  Its  overthrow  certainly  has  not  yet 
arrived,  and  we  are  already  almost  nineteen  centuries 
distant  from  the  generation  in  which  the  Parousia 
began. 

4.  In  his  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  in  Asia, 
which  constitute  the  introduction  to  the  Book  of  Rev- 
elation, John  announces  the  repeated  warnings  of  the 
Lord  of  his  speedy  "  coming  "  to  try  and  reward  them 
according  to  their  fidelity.  The  word  parousia  is  not 
indeed  used  in  this  case,  but  it  will  scarcely  be  denied 
that  the  "  coming  "  so  often  mentioned  was  identical 
with  it.  The  familiar  imagery  used  by  Christ  himself 
of  that  event,  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  is  employed. 
"  Behold  he  cometh  with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall 
see  him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  him ;  and  all 
kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him." 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  reference 
is  made  here  to  the  persecutions  then  impending  over 
the  churches,  "the  hour  of  temptation  which  shall 
come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon 
the  earth."  In  that  great  trial  Christ  declares  that  he 
will  "  come  "  to  them  with  searching  severity,  to  detect 
and  punish  the  unfaithful,  to  strengthen  and  comfort 
his  true  children,  and  to  reward  those  who  were  stead- 
fast unto  death  with  the  crown  and  throne  of  victory 


76  THE  PABOUSIA. 

in  heaven.  The  nature  of  the  promise  indicates  the 
time  of  its  fulfillment,  viz.,  that  persecuting  era  of 
Rome  which  began  with  Nero  about  A.  D.  64,  and 
ended  with  the  accession  of  Constantine  in  A.  D.  306. 
5.  In  Christ's  consolatory  words  to  his  disciples  in 
view  of  his  approaching  departure,  he  spoke  of  certain 
"  comings  "  which  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  particular 
date,  but  are  to  be  repeated  in  the  personal  history  of 
individuals  in  all  ages.  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate 
that  these  are  the  same  thing  with  the  Parousia,  in  its 
general  signification,  but  they  do  denote  what  shall 
occur  under  the  Parousia,  and  are  particular  and 
special  manifestations  of  it  to  individual  believers. 
"  If  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  words ;  and  my 
Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him  and 
make  our  abode  with  him."  "  If  I  go  and  prepare  a 
place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  ^  and  receive  you  unto 
myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  When 
Christ  enters  into  such  relations  to  one  that  loves  him, 
it  is  an  apocalypse  of  himself  to  that  soul  as  Lord  and 
King,  in  power  and  glory.  And  when  he  comes  to 
the  bedside  of  him  who  has  fought  a  good  fight  and 
kept  the  faith,  and  in  his  divine  strength  as  the  risen 
and  reigning  Lord,  makes  him  a  partaker  of  the  victory 
he  achieved  for  all  his  people,  and  bears  him  away  to  his 
throne  and  home  in  his  Father's  house,  it  is  to  make 
him  a  sharer  in  the  glory  of  his  Parousia.  They  are 
the  fruits  of  that  great  and  blessed  Presence  of  the 
Lord  which  was  to  the  apostles  ever  the  source  of  so 
much  hope  and  joy. 

^Dean  Alford  says  this  refers  to  "the  great  Bevisitation  in  all 
its  blessed  progress." 


SCOPE  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  77 

6.  The  Parousia  in  express  terms  was  to  embrace 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  "  Every  man  in  his  own 
order ;  Christ  the  first  fruits,  afterward  they  that  are 
Christ's,  at  his  coming" — (Gr.  in  or  during  his  Par- 
ousia). 1  Cor.  15 :  23.  I  need  spend  no  time  to 
establish  this  connection  between  the  two,  it  being  a 
truth  universally  recognized  that  one  of  the  objects  of 
Christ's  coming  in  his  Parousia  was  to  be  to  raise  the 
dead. 

7.  Finally,  the  Parousia,  in  like  manner,  was  to 
embrace  the  general  judgment.  Matt.  25 :  31-46.  I 
think,  indeed,  that  that  sublime  consummation,  like 
the  Parousia  itself,  has  a  wider  scope  than  is  implied  in 
the  usual  materialistic  conceptions  of  it.  But  this,  at 
least,  is  certain  that  it  is  to  embrace  the  whole  family 
of  mankind  ;  that  there  never  has  been  and  never  will 
be  one  to  whom  it  is  not  appointed  to  "stand  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ  to  receive  the  things  done 
in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad." 

Here,  then,  is  a  predicted  event  which  was  to  em- 
brace within  it,  at  least,  the  seven  specific  things  men- 
tioned. This,  be  it  observed,  is  not  a  matter  of  infer- 
ence, but  of  express  divine  assertion.  Its  two  termini 
are  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. And  the  question  now  recurs,  how  can  these 
two,  with  all  that  lies  between,  be  included  in  one 
term,  if  you  do  not  make  that  term  one  of  vast  breadth 
and  comprehensiveness  ?  Insist  upon  it  that  the  Par- 
ousia means  some  point  of  time,  some  "day"  or  "hour," 
in   the  ordinary  sense,  and   you   create   a   difficulty 


78  THE  PABOUSIA. 

which  I  know  not  how  to  solve.  Insist  that  it  not 
only  means  such  point  of  time,  but  that  that  "  day  " 
is  still  future,  and  you  contradict  the  most  express 
and  oft  repeated  words  of  the  Lord  and  of  all  his 
apostles. 

Something,  at  least,  must  be  done  to  harmonize  these 
testimonies  of  the  divine  word.  We  cannot  take  up 
the  overthrow  of  the  temple,  the  founding  of  the  new 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  the  destruction  of  the  Man 
of  Sin,  and  the  disciplinary  "  coming  "  of  the  Lord  to 
the  seven  churches,  and  carry  them  forward  into  the 
future,  as  events  which  are  still  to  take  place.  We 
cannot  reach  forward  to  the  resurrection  and  the 
judgment  and  carry  them  back  to  the  generation  when 
Christ  was  on  earth  in  the  flesh.  The  grand  programme 
of  the  world's  history  under  the  administration  of  our 
Lord,  with  its  mighty  procession  of  centuries  and  ages, 
refuses  to  be  thus  narrowed  down  to  a  single  point. 
The  powers  of  the  mind  revolt  at  such  an  attempt, 
under  the  pressure  of  any  theory,  to  do  violence  to 
their  intuitive  convictions.  You  may  resort  to  the 
h3^pothesis  of  types,  making  those  primitive  events  the 
types  of  the  greater  ones  in  the  future ;  you  may 
invent  the  doctrine  of  a  double  sense,  under  which, 
when  one  thing  is  said  another  thing  is  meant ;  or  you 
may  devise  some  other  solution,  but  you  must  do 
something.  For  myself  I  freely  say,  that,  having  re- 
flected much  upon  all  these  ways,  and  having  tried  in 
vain  to  feel  satisfied  with  any  other,  I  can  find  none 
which  seems  so  simple,  so  accordant  with  common 
sense,  so  perfectly  able  to  meet  all  the  conditions  of 


SCOPE  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  79 

the  problem,  and  to  exalt  and  honor  our  Lord  himself, 
as  that  which  regards  the  Parousia  as  covering  a  vast 
period  of  duration,  beginning  with  the  generation 
when  he  was  on  earth,  and  lasting  long  enough  to 
include  all  those  great  events  which  are  to  make  up 
the  history  of  time. 

We  find  thus,  independently  of  the  meaning  of  the 
word  and  of  the  declared  time  of  its  occurrence, 
evidence  in  its  predicted  duration  confirming  the  view 
I  have  advanced  as  to  its  nature.  The  Parousia  is 
not  something  pertaining  to  a  point,  but  to  a  vast 
space  of  time.  It  is  not  an  event,  but  a  dispensation. 
Like  the  ocean  expanse,  embosoming  within  it  widely 
distant  mountain  ranges  whose  tops  alone  appear  above 
the  surface,  its  shores  are  the  boundaries  of  time. 
It  may  be  studded  with  myriads  of  particular  events 
called  comings,^  like  the  isles  of  the  sea,  but  they  are 
all  within  the  one  common  ocean.  To  say  that  because 
this  or  that  great  event  has  not  yet  happened — even 
to  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment — the  Parousia 
itself  has  not  begun,  is  as  if  a  voyager  at  Hawaii 
should  say  that,  because  he  has  not  yet  reached  Hong 
Kong,  he  has  not  therefore  yet  embarked  upon  the 
Pacific. 

a  Says  the  learned  Vitringa,  "  Venire  dicitur  Cliristus  in  nubi- 
bus  coeli,  quoties  gloriam  majestatemque  suam  in  singulari- 
bus  gratiae,  severitatis,  et  potentiae  suae  effectis  demonstrat,  et 
se  ecclesiae  quasi  praesentem  exhibet."  (Christ  is  said  to  come 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven  as  often  as  he  shows  forth  his  glory  and 
majesty  in  the  particular  operations  of  his  grace,  severity,  and 
power,  and  exhibits  himself  to  the  church  as  if  present). 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA. 

How,  then,  can  the  views  now  exhibited  as  to  the  na- 
ture, the  time,  and  the  duration  of  the  Parousia,  be  made 
to  harmonize  with  the  representations  of  the  Scriptures 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  should  take  place.  It  is  de- 
clared that  it  should  be  attended  with  sublime  physical 
phenomena ;  the  darkening  of  the  sun  and  moon,  the 
fall  of  the  stars,  the  burning  of  the  world,  the  pass- 
ing away  of  the  heavens  with  a  great  noise,  etc.  Did 
all  these  things  happen  eighteen  hundred  years  ago? 

In  order  to  answer  this  inquiry,  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  what  was  the  meaning  of  this  language  in  the 
prophetic  Scriptures,  and  in  the  usage  of  the  Jews  of 
Christ's  day. 

These  representations  are  of  two  kinds,  referring  to 
two  distinct  things,  identical  indeed  in  time  but 
wholly  different  in  their  nature ;  viz.  the  establishment 
of  the  new  kingdom  of  heaven^  and  the  abolition  of  the 
old, 

SECTION   I. 
THE   IMAGERY   OF   INAUGURATION. 

Christ  was  to  come  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
the  new  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  of  being  inaugurated 
as  its  King.  How  should  this  event  be  fittingly  set 
forth  to  the  apprehension  of  mankind  ? 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAB0U8IA.  81 

The  idea  of  divine  manifestations  to  men  had  been 
familiar  to  the  Jews  from  the  earliest  times.  To 
Abraham  and  Lot,  to  Isaac  and  Jacob,  God  appeared, 
usually  in  a  human  form, — the  "Angel-Jehovah" — 
speaking,  eating,  and  in  one  case  even  wrestling,  after 
the  manner  of  men.  To  Moses  in  the  desert  he  reveal- 
ed himself  in  the  burning  bush.  These,  however, 
were,  so  to  speak,  private  manifestations.  Impressive 
as  they  were  to  the  individuals  that  received  them, 
they  were  confined  to  their  personal  experience,  and 
could  have  had  no  wide  effect  upon  the  world  at  large. 
It  was  necessary,  therefore,  in  order  to  establish  his 
special  government  over  a  nation,  and  insure  from 
them  the  reverence  and  obedience  due  to  him  as  their 
King  and  Lord,  that  he  should  make  a  public,  visible 
demonstration  of  his  existence,  and  power,  and  majesty. 
That  demonstration  took  place  at  Mt.  Sinai. 

Every  circumstance  that  could  add  to  its  sublimity 
was  gathered  around  the  scene.  The  people,  by  a  three 
months'  journey,  were  led  apart  from  the  rest  of  man- 
kind into  the  highest,  most  secluded  recesses  of  the 
mountains.  There,  in  a  broad  ravine,  shut  in  on  all 
sides  by  lofty  granite  peaks  gray  with  time  and  splin- 
tered and  seamed  by  the  storms  of  ages,  they  were 
commanded  to  prepare  for  a  personal  interview  with 
their  God.  Three  days  are  spent  in  sanctifying  them- 
selves for  the  great  occasion.  Around  the  base  of  the 
huge  precipice  which  God  was  to  make  his  throne,  a 
line  was  drawn,  beyond  which  none  might  pass  on  pain 
of  instant  death.  It  is  for  an  inspired  pen  alone  to 
describe  what  followed  : — 
5 


82  THE  PAROUSIA. 

"  It  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day  in  the  morning, 
that  there  were  thunders  and  lightnings  and  a  thick 
cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice  of  the  trumpet 
exceeding  loud ;  so  that  all  the  people  that  was  in  the 
camp  trembled.  And  Moses  brought  forth  the  people 
out  of  the  camp  to  meet  with  God,  and  they  stood  at 
the  nether  part  of  the  mount.  And  Mount  Sinai  was 
altogether  on  a  smoke,  because  the  Lord  descended 
upon  it  in  fire,  and  the  smoke  thereof  ascended  as 
the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  and  the  whole  mount  quaked 
greatly.  And  when  the  voice  of  the  trumpet  sounded 
long,  and  waxed  louder  and  louder,  Moses  spake,  and 
God  answered  him  by  a  voice."  Ex.  19 :  16-20. 

The  narrative  does  not  state  by  whom  the  trumpet 
was  blown,  but  elsewhere  we  learn  that  Jehovah  was 
attended  by  a  countless  retinue  of  angels.  In  Deut. 
33 :  2,  it  is  said,  "  He  came  with  ten  thousands  of  his 
saints,"  i.  e.,  holy  ones.  "  From  his  right  hand  went 
forth  a  fiery  law  for  them."  The  Septuagint  has  here, 
"  At  his  right  hand  the  angels  with  him."  In  Ps.  68  : 
18  we  read,  "  The  chariots  of  God  are  twenty  thousand, 
even  thousands  of  angels  ;  the  Lord  is  among  them  as 
in  Sinai,  in  the  holy  place."  To  the  Galatians  Paul 
says  the  law  was  "ordained  by — i.  e.,  through  the 
medium  of — angels,"  (ch.  3  :  19);  and  to  the  Hebrews 
that  it  was  "spoken  by  angels."  Ch.  2  :  2. 

This  scene  was  doubtless  the  most  awe-inspiring  that 
ever  addressed  itself  to  the  eye  of  mortals.  "  So  ter- 
rible was  the  sight,"  said  Paul,  "  that  even  Moses  said, 
I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake.""  Heb.  12:  21.  It  in- 
vested the  theocratic  system  then  established  with  a 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  83 

sanctity  and  authority  transcending  all  human  enact- 
ments. Often  was  it  referred  to  by  their  teachers  as 
bringing  the  nation  under  the  most  solemn  obligations 
to  obedience,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  conferring  on 
them  the  highest  honor.  "  Ask  now,"  said  Moses,  "  of 
the  days  that  are  passed,  which  were  before  thee,  since 
the  day  that  God  created  man  upon  the  earth,  and  ask 
from  the  one  side  of  heaven  unto  the  other,  whether 
there  hath  been  any  such  thing  as  this  great  thing  is, 
or  hath  been  heard  like  it.  Did  ever  people  hear  the 
voice  of  God  speaking  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  as 

thou  hast  heard,  and  live  ? Out  of  heaven  he  made 

thee  to  hear  his  voice,  that  he  might  instruct  thee, 
and  upon  earth  he  shewed  thee  his  great  fire  ;  and  thou 
heardest  his  voice  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire."  Deut. 
4 :  33-36.  The  proto-martyr  Stephen,  in  that  recita- 
tion of  the  nation's  history  which  so  cut  them  to  the 
heart  and  maddened  them  to  murder,  charged  upon 
them  that  notwithstanding  they  had  received  the  law 
"  by  the  disposition  of  angels,"  God's  ministers  at 
Sinai,  they  had  failed  to  keep  it.  And  Josephus  de- 
scribes even  the  able  but  impious  Herod,  while  engaged 
in  a  war  with  the  Arabians  who  had  murdered  his 
embassadors,  as  stimulating  the  ardor  of  his  soldiers 
by  reminding  them  that  they  had  received  their  law 
through  the  ministry  of  angels,  who  might  be  regard- 
ed as  God's  embassadors  to  mankind.  Ant.  15:  5.  3. 

Here,  then,  was  the  source  of  that  peculiar  imagery 
which  ever  after  was  wont  to  be  used  in  describing  the 
divine  manifestations  to  man,  and  sometimes  even  of 
the  ordinary  operations  of  Providence.      The   Lord 


84  THE  PAB0U8JA. 

comes  in  the  clouds,  amid  lightnings  and  thunders ; 
angels  in  their  shining  ranks  attend  him ;  the  moun- 
tains shake  at  his  presence ;  and  his  awful  voice  is 
heard  uttering  law  and  judgment  for  the  world.  A 
remarkable  example  of  this  diction  occurs  in  the 
eighteenth  Psalm,  the  superscription  of  which  informs 
us  that  it  was  a  commemorative  offering  of  praise  for 
the  Psalmist's  deliverance  "  from  the  hand  of  all  his 
enemies  and  from  the  hand  of  Saul."  "  He  bowed 
the  heavens  and  came  down,  and  darkness  was  under 
his  feet.  And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub  and  did  fly  ;  yea 
he  did  fly  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  He  made 
darkness  his  secret  place  ;  his  pavilion  round  about  him 
were  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  At 
the  brightness  that  was  before  him  his  thick  clouds 
passed, — hailstones  and  coals  of  fire.  The  Lord  also 
thundered  in  the  heavens,  and  the  Highest  gave  his 
voice, — hailstones  and  coals  of  fire."  Of  course,  we 
are  not  to  understand  that  all  this  actually  occurred 
in  a  literal  or  material  sense  ;  it  is  simply  the  portrayal 
of  almighty  power  interposing  for  the  deliverance  of 
David.  The  real  methods  in  which  this  was  done  are 
shown  in  the  history,  which  makes  no  mention  of  any 
thing  supernatural.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  language  of 
costume,  the  full  force  of  which  consists  in  its  convey- 
ing the  idea  of  irresistible  supreme  power. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  worthy  of  mention  here,  that 
this  inauguration  of  Jehovah  as  the  peculiar  sovereign 
of  the  Hebrews  has  been  made  the  pattern  after  which 
earthly  kings  have  ordered  the  ceremonies  of  their 
own  coronation.     Arrayed  in  royal  vestments,  with  a 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  85 

brilliant  retinue  of  grandees,  and  an  imposing  display 
of  his  troops,  the  new  sovereign  comes  forth,  with  a 
herald  blowing  a  trumpet  before  him,  and  the  shouts 
of  the  multitudes  crying,  "God  save  the  king."  See 
the  story  of  the  accession  of  Solomon  (1  Kings  1 : 
38,  39),  and  of  Jehu,  2  Kings  9  :  13.  Even  in  modern 
times,  the  like  ceremonial  is  observed  at  the  coronation 
of  British  sovereigns, — the  blowing  of  the  trumpet  by 
the  Garter  king-at-arms  proclaiming  the  enthroning 
of  the  new  monarch,  and  publishing  his  titles  and 
dignities  to  the  world. 

It  was  in  terms  thus  hallowed  by  association  with 
the  founding  of  their  own  divine  monarchy,  and 
familiarized  to  the  Jews  as  the  technical  phraseology 
denoting  the  accession  of  kings  to  their  thrones, — the 
court  language  of  inauguration,  so  to  speak — that 
Christ  described  his  coming  to  men  in  his  kingdom. 
The  one  event  of  their  past  history  most  memorable 
and  sublime  was  the  type  of  the  one  event  of  the 
future  to  which  they  were  taught  to  look  forward  with 
the  intensest  interest.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  now 
exalted  to  his  promised  throne,  should  appear  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  all  the  holy  angels,  resplendent 
in  flaming  fire  like  the  lightnings  of  Sinai,  with  a 
shout,  the  voice  of  an  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God. 
And  as  the  Hebrew  nation  had  been  gathered  in  solemn 
expectation  around  the  mountain  to  receive  their 
King,  so  before  Christ  should  "  be  gathered  all  nations" 
(Matt.  25 :  32),  to  receive  law  and  judgment  at  his 
mouth.  The  grand  type-scene  which  introduced  the 
old  dispensation  lent  its  glories  to  grace  the  grander 
antitype  that  should  introduce  the  new. 


86  THE  PAROUSIA. 

And  not  only  thus  was  the  inauguration  of  a  King 
suggested,  but  that  of  One  in  all  respects  equal  in 
power  and  glory  to  himself.  It  was  claiming  not  only 
the  throne,  but  all  the  attending  insignia  which  had 
bowed  the  nation  in  awe  and  fear  at  the  foot  of  Mt. 
Sinai.  If  the  sublimest  phenomena  known  to  nature 
could  indicate  the  rank  of  Him  whose  coronation  they 
graced,  the  throne  of  Jesus  should  be  no  whit  inferior 
to  that  of  Jehovah.  He  who  in  his  own  person  is  the 
equal  of  the  Father,  should  be  also  equal  in  power 
and  glory,  "  that  all  men  might  honor  the  Son  even  as 
they  honor  the  Father." 

Was  there  then  to  be,  in  addition  to  this  high  sym- 
bolic signification,  a  fulfillment  of  this  language  in  a 
literal  sense  ?     I  think  not. 

For  first,  there  is  no  evidence  that,  at  this  period, 
such  was  its  recognized  meaning.  We  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  four  disciples  who  heard  our  Lord's 
words  on  Olivet  so  understood  him.  They  were 
familiar  with  the  fact  that  language  like  this  was  con- 
stantly used  by  their  prophets  as  mere  costume — the 
drapery  under  which  divine  manifestations  were  set 
forth.  Compare  Ex.  34  :  5  ;  2  Sam.  22  :  10-12  ;  Ps. 
50:3;  97:2-5;  104:3;  Isa.l9:l;  64:1,  2;  Ezek. 
1:  4;  10:  4;  Dan.  7:  13.  They  knew  that  God's 
deliverance  of  David  from  his  enemies  was  not  attend- 
ed by  actual  earthquakes,  an  awful  form  seated  on  a 
flying  cherub,  surrounded  by  dark  clouds  from  which 
shot  forth  mingled  hail  and  fire.  They  knew,  in  a 
word,  that  all  this  had  come  to  be  figurative  language, 
used  to  exalt  men's  impressions  of  the  divine  majesty. 


TUE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAEOUSIA.  87 

When  applied  by  our  Lord  to  his  coining,  its  signifi- 
cance lay  in  the  fact  that  he  was  to  appear  as  their 
long  expected  Messiah,  in  a  glory  befitting  his  exalted 
character,  and  not  less  worthy  of  reverence  than  He 
whose  throne  had  been  established  amid  the  sublimi- 
ties of  Sinai. 

So  with  the  apostle  Paul.  If  he  had  understood 
that  the  day  of  the  Lord  was  to  be  introduced  by  a 
visible  appearance  of  Christ  in  the  clouds,  why  did  he 
not  remind  the  Thessalonians,  who  thought  the  day 
had  already  come,^  that  such  appearance  had  not  taken 
place  ?  Adventists  who  are  now  looking  for  it  make 
the  fact  that  no  visible  coming  has  yet  occurred  a  proof, 
to  them  absolutely  conclusive,  that  the  Parousia  is 
yet  future.  Why  did  not  Paul  reason  in  the  same 
way  when  he  wished  to  prove  the  same  thing,  unless 
because  neither  he  nor  those  to  whom  he  wrote  had 
any  expectation  of  the  kind  ? 

We  are  not  to  forget  that  the  whole  Mosaic  economy 
was  but  a  type  and  prophecy  of  the  new  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  was  to  be  established  by  the  Messiah.^ 

*It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  phrase  "is  at  hand,"  in  2 
Thess.  2:  2,  is  in  the  original  "  has  come."  "These  Thessalon- 
ians," says  Alford,  "imagined  it  to  be  already  come." 

*> "  It  necessarily  results  from  the  nature  of  prophecy,  that  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah  should  be  represented  by  metaphors 
taken  from  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  that  the  facts  as  well 
as  the  persons  of  the  former  should  receive  the  names  of  the 
latter,  which  were  connected  with  them  by  an  internal  resem- 
blance. This  mode  of  representation  is  founded  in  the  fact  that 
the  Mosaic  economy  was  ordered  with  distinct  reference  to  the 
Christian  dispensation,  and  prefigures  it."  Hengstenberg's 
Christology.  Yol.  I,  p.  231. 


88  THE  PAROUSIA. 

This  is  shown  at  great  length  in  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews.  The  tabernacle,  its  rites,  its  furniture,  and 
its  ministers,  were  all  "  figures  for  the  time  then  pres- 
ent"; "shadows  of  good  things  to  come."  And  through- 
out the  whole,  the  method  of  teaching  was  from  the 
literal  to  the  figurative,  from  the  material  to  the 
spiritual.  The  sacrificial  lamb  pointed  to  the  Lamb 
of  God  that  was  to  take  away  the  sin  of  the  world ; 
the  ministering  priest  to  Him  who  offered  himself  once 
for  all ;  circumcision  to  regeneration  ;  the  sprinkling  of 
the  victim's  blood  to  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
the  Sabbath  to  the  "  rest  that  remaineth ;"  the  taber- 
nacle to  the  perfected  church  in  which  God  shall  dwell 
forever.  Never  is  the  relation  otherwise.  The  material 
type  is  never  fulfilled  in  a  material  antitype  ;  bloody 
rite  has  no  bloody  rite  as  its  counterpart ;  no  Christian 
altar  answers  to  Hebrew  altar,  no  earthly  Jerusalem 
to  the  Jerusalem  that  then  was,  and  was  in  bondage 
with  her  children.  And  so,  by  all  the  principles  of 
analogy,  as  the  ancient  ritual  dispensation  was  in  all 
its  parts  symbolical  of  the  new,  which  is  spiritual,  so 
its  inauguration  with  material  splendors  ought  to  find 
its  fulfillment  in  one  that  is  spiritual.  To  look  for 
one  appealing  to  the  senses  is  to  reverse  all  the  laws  of 
progress  and  development  in  God's  revelation  to  man. 
But  we  have  something  on  the  point  even  more 
definite  than  this.  Christ  was  once  "  demanded  of 
the  Pharisees  when  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come." 
Luke  17  :  20.  He  answered  them,  "  The  kingdom  of 
God  cometh  not  with  observation,"  or  as  it  is  in  the 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  89 

margin,  "  with  outward  show."  *  "  Neither  shall  they 
say  '  Lo  there  !' — you  are  not  to  expect  it  in  one  local- 
ity or  another  ^ — for  behold  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
within  ^  you."  It  is  in  the  hearts  of  men  that  you  are 
to  look  for  its  coming ;  it  is  a  spiritual  not  sensuous 
kingdom,  such  as  you  anticipate.  This  clear  and 
explicit  language  ought  to  dispel  those  gross  and  carnal 
views  which  look  for  an  imposing  temporal  kingdom, 
established  in  some  earthly  locality,  and  inaugurated 
by  grand  sights  and  sounds,  to  make  men  stare,  but 
to  win  no  hearts  with  the  majesty  of  enthroned  truth 
and  love. 

SECTION  n. 
THE   IMAGERY   OF   DESTRUCTION. 

The  coming  of  our  Lord  in  his  Parousia  was  not 
only  to  inaugurate  the  new  dispensation — the  kingdom 
of  heaven — but  to  abolish  the  old.  The  old,  indeed, 
had  been  intended  as  a  preparation  for  the  new,  out 
of  which  the  latter,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  was  to 
unfold,  as  the  perfect  flower  from  the  bud  which  had 

*"So  that  its  progress  may  be  watched  with  the  eyes."  Rob- 
inson's Lex.  sub  voce.  "  None  shall  be  able  to  point  here  or  there 
for  a  proof  of  its  coming."  Alford.  "What  attracts  observa- 
tion." Bloomfield.  "Every  thing  that  excites  observation." 
Olshausen. 

^  "  The  Saviour  withdraws  the  kingdom  of  God  wholly  from 
the  local  and  phenomenal  world,  and  transfers  it  to  the  world 
of  spirit."     lb. 

^  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  commentators 
whether  the  words  entos  humon  mean  within  you  or  among  you. 
The  sense  is  substantially  the  same  either  way. 


90  THE  PAROUSIA, 

inclosed  and  protected  it.  But  now,  through  the 
grossness  of  the  nation's  heart,  it  had  become  the  chief 
hinderance  to  the  new, — its  stony  prison  instead  of  its 
fostering  womb.  Therefore  it  became  necessary  that 
the  former  should  be  utterly  destroyed,  which  could 
be  effected  only  by  destroying  the  temple  which  had 
been  its  shrine,  and  the  city  and  nation  which  clung  to 
it  with  an  idolatrous  reverence.  Hence  a  second  class 
of  imagery  used  in  describing  the  event,  derived  from 
those  natural  phenomena,  which,  among  unscientific 
people,  have  always  inspired  most  awe  and  fear. 

Foremost  among  these  are  eclipses  of  the  sun  and 
moon.  To  this  day,  millions  of  men  go  into  agonies 
of  terror  when  these  happen.  Showers  of  falling 
meteors,  or  as  they  are  popularly  called,  shooting  stars, 
are  of  the  same  class,  and  the  recent  discovery  of  the 
fact  that  these  are  periodical  proves  that  they  must 
have  been  of  frequent  occurrence  before  the  Christian 
era.  Earthquakes  are  the  terror  of  every  age.  Fierce 
tempests  have  ever  prevailed,  especially  in  warm 
climates,  in  which,  amid  the  incessant  flashes  of  light- 
ning and  roar  of  thunder,  it  needs  no  stretch  of  imagi- 
nation to  believe  that  the  heavens  are  passing  away 
with  a  great  noise  and  the  elements  melting  with  fer- 
vent heat,  while  the  dense  masses  of  whirling  clouds 
seem  to  be  the  rolling  together  of  the  firmament  like 
a  scroll.  And  then  the  clearing  up  that  follows  ! — the 
sun  bursting  forth  in  new  splendor  from  the  depths  of 
the  serene  blue,  and  the  freshness  and  fragrance  and 
peace  that  breathe  over  the  smiling  landscape  prompt 
the  admiring  exclamation,  "  Behold  new  heavens  and 
a  new  earth  !" 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAB0U8IA.  91 

Now  we  can  make  no  greater  mistake  than  to  inter- 
pret the  imagery  in  the  Bible  derived  from  these  sources 
after  the  methods  of  thought  which  prevail  in  our 
day.^  Remember  that  the  Jews  were  Orientals,  born 
under  the  brilliant  skies  of  the  East,  and  living  many 
centuries  before  the  birth  of  what  we  call  science. 
They  looked  upon  and  spoke  of  natural  phenomena 
as  they  appeared  to  the  senses.  With  them  the  blue 
concave  of  the  sky  was  a  solid  crystalline  sphere  called 
the  "  firmament,"  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  fixed 
in  that  firmament,  like  gems  in  their  sockets,  and 
revolved  with  it  once  a  day.  The  earth  was  a  vast  plain 
built  upon  solid  foundations,  and  surrounded  upon  its 
outer  margin  by  the  floods.  The  rains  descended 
through  windows  in  the  firmament ;  earthquakes  were 
the  shaking  of  the  pillars  on  which  the  earth  rests ; 
volcanoes  were  the  flowing  down   of  the  mountains 

*  When  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  written  by 
Jews  and  among  Jews  and  unto  them,  and  when  all  the  dis- 
courses made  there  were  made,  in  like  manner,  by  Jews  and  to 
Jews  and  among  them,  I  was  always  fully  persuaded,  as  a  thing 
past  all  doubting,  that  that  Testament  could  not  but  every 
where  taste  of  and  retain  the  Jews'  style,  idiom,  and  rule  of 
speaking.  And  hence,  in  the  second  place,  I  concluded  as  as- 
suredly that  in  the  obscurer  places  of  that  Testament  (which 
are  very  many)  the  best  and  most  natural  method  of  searching 
out  the  sense  is  to  inquire  how  and  in  what  sense  those  phrases 
and  manners  of  speech  were  understood,  according  to  the  vul- 
gar and  common  dialect  and  opinion  of  that  nation,  and  how 
they  took  them  by  whom  they  were  spoken  and  by  whom  they 
were  heard.  For  it  is  no  matter  what  we  can  beat  out  concern- 
ing those  manners  of  speech  on  the  anvil  of  our  own  conceit, 
but  what  they  signified  among  them  in  their  ordinary  sense 
and  speech."    Lightfoot,  Hor.  Heb.  vol.  11,  pp.  3,  4. 


92  TUB  PABOUSIA. 

under  the  wrath  of  God.  The  oriental  mind,  grasp- 
ing these  phenomena  with  a  vivid  imagination, 
wrought  them  into  many  forms  of  glowing  imagery 
to  denote  whatever  was  grand  or  terrific.  The  Jews 
were  not  alone  in  this,  but  the  same  thing  was  true  of 
all  the  Eastern  nations,  Greek,  Egyptian,  Persian, 
Indian, — of  all  indeed  that  have  left  us  a  literature. 

But  we,  in  these  western  lands  and  in  modern  times, 
have  become  as  highly  philosophical  and  practical. 
We  have  trained  ourselves  to  look  beyond  appearances, 
and  investigate  ultimate  principles  and  facts.  We 
have  learned  astronomy  and  geology.  We  know  that 
the  sky  is  not  solid ;  that  the  heavenly  bodies  are  not 
luminous  disks  fastened  to  it ;  and  that  the  earth  is 
not  a  plain  and  has  no  foundations.  To  us  nature 
and  the  universe  are  totally  unlike  what  they  were  to 
the  ancients.  We  neither  conceive  nor  speak  of  them 
in  the  same  way.  Our  words  are  scientific,  literal ; 
after  the  reality  and  not  the  appearance.  For  us  then 
to  interpret  ancient  language  like  our  own  is  to  plunge 
into  endless  incongruity  and  error.  It  would  be  like 
painting  the  ancients  themselves  in  modern  costume, 
and  making  them  talk  like  Prof.  Huxley.^     It  is  to 

*"The  walls  of  the  chapel  [in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella  in  Florence]  were  to  be  filled  from  top  to  bottom  with 
compositions.  They  are  representations  of  biblical  events. 
That  is  to  say,  the  names  of  the  different  pictures  are  so  called , 
but  in  truth  we  are  looking  at  groups  of  known  and  unknown 
Florentine  beauties  and  celebrities,  men,  women,  and  children, 
placed  together  just  as  circumstances  demanded,  in  the  cos- 
tume of  the  period,  and  in  a  manner  as  if  that  which  the  picture 
signified  had  occurred  a  few  days  before  in  the  streets  of  Flor- 
ence, or  in  one  of  the  most  well  known  houses. Rembrandt 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  93 

repeat  the  folly  which  condemned  Galileo  for  heresy 
because  he  asserted  that  the  earth  moved,  and  has 
done  so  much  to  make  scientific  skeptics  in  our  own 
day.  It  is  only  when  we  let  the  sacred  writers  speak 
in  their  own  way,  and  understand  their  words  as  they 
and  their  contemporaries  did,  that  we  shall  learn  the 
truth,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  designed  to  give  it. 

Such  were  the  sources  of  the  imagery  which  the 
Hebrew  prophets  had  always  been  accustomed  to 
employ  in  predicting  the  divine  judgments  upon  cities 
and  nations.  Look  at  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
which  is  entitled  "  The  burden  of  Babylon,"  and 
observe  in  what  language  the  destruction  of  that  city 
is  described.  "  Behold  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh, 
cruel  both  with  wrath  and  fierce  anger,  to  lay  the 
land  desolate  ;  and  he  shall  destroy  the  sinners  thereof 
out  of  it.  For  the  stars  of  heaven  and  the  constella- 
tions thereof  shall  not  give  their  light ;  the  sun  shall 
be  darkened  in  his  going  forth,  and  the  moon  shall  not 
cause  her  light  to  shine. — I  will  shake  the  heavens, 
and  the  earth  shall  remove  out  of  her  place,  in  the 
wrath    of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  in  the  day  of  his 

fierce  anger. Behold   I   will   stir   up   the    Medes 

against  them,"  etc. 

makes  Mary  sit  in  a  stable  representing  a  Dutch  cow-house  of 
his  time,  while  Raphael  gives  her  accommodations  in  old  Roman 
walls,  such  as  he  daily  passed  by."  Grimm's  Life  of  Michael 
Angelo,  vol.  1,  p.  87. 

Of  the  same  school  was  the  genius  that  painted  Abraham's 
servants,  in  their  pursuit  of  the  robbers  who  had  carried  off  Lot 
and  his  family,  as  armed  with  muskets !  I  have  seen  a  picture 
representing  Christ's  resurrection,  showing  an  old  fashioned 
Yankee  meeting-house  with  steeple  and  bell  standing  near  by. 


94  THE  PABOUSIA. 

Take  the  twenty-fourth  chapter,  which  is  a  predict- 
ion of  the  earlier  capture  of  Jerusalem  and  the  devas- 
tation of  Palestine,  by  Sennacherib.  "  Behold  the 
Lord  maketh  the  earth  empty,  and  maketh  it  waste, 
and  turneth  it  upside  down,  and  scattereth  abroad  the 

inhabitants    thereof. The  earth   is  utterly  broken 

down,  the  earth  is  clean  dissolved,  the  earth  is  moved 
exceedingly.  The  earth  shall  reel  to  and  fro  like  a 
drunkard,  and  shall  be  removed  like  a  cottage,  and 
the  transgression  thereof  shall  be  heavy  upon  it ;  and 

it  shall  fall  and  not  rise  again. Then  the   moon 

shall  be  confounded  and  the  sun  ashamed,  when  the 
Lord  of  hosts  shall  reign  on  Mount  Zion,  and  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  before  his  ancients  gloriously." 

Still  more  striking  is  the  announcement,  in  the  thirty- 
fourth  chapter,  of  the  divine  judgments  upon  the  land 
of  Idumea.  "  All  the  host  of  heaven  shall  be  dissolved, 
and  the  heavens  shall  be  rolled  together  as  a  scroll ; 
and  all  their  host  shall  fall  down,  as  the  leaf  falleth  off 
from  the  vine,  and  as  a  falling  fig  from  the  fig-tree. 
For  my  sword  shall  be  bathed  in  heaven  ;  behold  it 

shall  come  down  upon  Idumea,"  etc. "  For  it  is  the 

day  of  the  Lord's  vengeance  and  the  year  of  recom- 
penses for  the  controversy  of  Zion.  And  the  streams 
thereof  shall  be  turned  into  pitch,  and  the  dust  thereof 
into  brimstone,  and  the  land  thereof  shall  become  burn- 
ing pitch ;  it  shall  not  be  quenched  night  nor  day ;  the 
smoke  thereof  shall  go  up  forever." 

Nor  was  language  like  this  confined  to  one  prophet ; 
it  was  the  common  usage  of  all.  See  how  Ezekiel — 
ch.  32 — threatens  Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt,  with  an 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PABOUSIA.  95 

overthrow  by  Babylon.  "  And  when  I  shall  put  thee 
out,  I  will  cover  the  heaven  and  make  the  stars  there- 
of dark ;  I  will  cover  the  sun  with  a  cloud  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light.  All  the  bright  lights 
of  heaven  will  I  make  dark  over  thee,  and  set  dark- 
ness upon  thy  land,  saith  the  Lord  God." 

The  prophet  Joel  denounces  a  plague  of  locusts 
upon  Palestine  in  the  following  terms,  (ch.  2).  ''Blow 
ye  the  trumpet  in  Zion,  and  sound  an  alarm  in  my  holy 
mountain ;  let  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  tremble, 
for  the  day  of  the  Lord  cometh,  for  it  is  nigh  at  hand. 
— — The  earth  shall  quake  before  them  ;  the  heavens 
shall  tremble ;  the  sun  and  the  moon  shall  be  dark, 
and  the  stars  shall  withdraw  their  shining.  And  the 
Lord  shall  utter  his  voice  before  his  army,"  etc.  And 
the  same  prophet,  speaking  of  the  period  immediately 
before  the  Parousia  of  Christ,  employs  similar  language, 
which  Peter  on  the  day  of  pentecost  quotes  and 
expressly  declares  has  reference  to  the  events  then 
transpiring.  "  This  is  that  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophet  Joel.     It  shall  come  to  pass  afterward  that  I 

will  pour   out   my  Spirit,    etc. And  I  will  show 

wonders  in  the  heavens  and  in  the  earth,  blood  and 
fire  and  pillars  of  smoke.  The  sun  shall  be  turned 
into  darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood  before  the  great 
and  terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come."  Joel  2 :  28-31. 

With  these  words  of  the  grand  old  prophets,  then, 
ringing  in  our  ears,  let  us  go  out  with  the  disciples  to 
Olivet  and  listen  to  the  Master,  a  greater  prophet  than 
they,  as  he  describes  to  us  that  Parousia  which  was  to 
be   initiated  by  the   destruction  of  the  beloved  city 


96  THE  PAROUSIA. 

and  temple  and  nation.  From  our  infancy  we  have 
been  taught  these  words  of  doom,  and  have  heard  them 
read  in  the  synagogue  service,  with  the  record  of  their 
fulfillment,  as  the  prophetic  vernacular  for  the  over- 
throw of  wicked  cities  and  nations.  A  half  hour  ago 
we  heard  him  pronounce  those  awful  words  upon  that 
guilty  generation ;  and  from  the  olive-clad  slopes  we 
look  yonder  upon  that  glittering  pile  of  marble  and 
gold  of  which  he  has  said  there  shall  not  be  one  stone 
left  upon  another.  And  when,  in  answer  to  our 
astonished  inquiry  as  to  the  time  and  the  signs  of  the 
catastrophe,  we  hear  him  say,  "  The  sun  shall  be  dark- 
ened, and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the 
stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the 
heavens  shall  be  shaken  " — what  is  it  but  the  familiar 
language  of  prophecy  telling  us  that  like  as  Babylon 
and  Egypt  and  Idumea,  so  Jerusalem  and  the  Hebrew 
nation  shall  be  overthrown?  Will  any  thought  of 
sensible,  material  phenomena  occur  to  us,  any  more 
than  in  connection  with  those  ancient  judgments  on 
wicked  nations, — especially  when  the  same  voice  imme- 
diately adds :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  this  generation 
shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled  ?" 

So  with  the  language  of  Paul,  the  disciple  of  Gam- 
aliel and  learned  in  all  the  Jewish  law,  when  he 
assured  the  Thessalonians  that  "  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 
be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in 
flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not 
God."  So  with  the  kindred  language  of  Peter,  the 
apostle  of  the  circumcision,  writing  to  churches  of 
converted  Jews,  that  "  the  heavens  shall  pass  away 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROUSIA.  97 

with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  shall  be  burned  up," '' — what  was  all  this  but 
the  phraseology  customarily  applied  to  classes  of 
events  which  had  many  times  before  happened,  and 
which  were  then  about  to  be  repeated?  And  now 
looking  back  upon  it  after  a  lapse  of  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  years,  what  difficulty  have  we  in 
saying  that  it  was  all  fulfilled  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
sacred  city  and  nation,  and  of  that  renowned  system 
of  institutions  which  for  fifteen  centuries  had  borne 
the  impress  of  divine  authority,  any  more  than  the 
similar  denunciations  against  Egypt  and  Babylon  and 
Idumea  and  other  oppressors  of  God's  people  ?  We 
do  not  argue  that  because  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars 
were  not  extinguished  and  the  earth  dashed  out  of  her 
orbit,  on  that  night  when  Belshazzar  was  slain,  there- 
fore Babylon  was  not  then  taken  and  its  destruction 
is  still  to  be  looked  for.  Why  should  we  reason  thus 
in  regard  to  that  more  stupendous  judgment  which 
came  upon  the  city  which  had  crucified  the  Lord  and 
become  the  bloody  persecutor  of  the  saints  ? 

I  shall  doubtless  be  told  by  those  who  have  been 

»  He  sets  forth  the  destruction  of  that  cursed  nation  and  their 
city  in  those  terms  that  Christ  hath  done  (Matt.  24)  and  that 
the  Scripture  doth  elsewhere  (Deut.  32:  22-24;  Jer.  4:  23,) 
namely  as  the  destruction  of  the  whole  world,  the  heavens  pass- 
ing away,  the  elements  melting,  and  the  earth  burned  up.  And 
accordingly,  he  speaks  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  from 
Isa.  65:  17 — anew  state  of  the  church  under  the  gospel  among 
the  Gentiles  when  this  old  world  of  the  Jews'  state  should  be 
dissolved.     Lightfoot  on  2  Peter. 


98  THE  P  A  no  U  SI  A. 

accustomed  to  more  sensuous  interpretations  of  the 
Scripture  that  I  am  detracting  from  the  awful  gran- 
deur with  which  they  invest  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 
But  it  seems  to  me  far  otherwise.  For  is  not  the 
spiritual  ever  greater  than  the  material  ?  Did  the 
angels  who  sang  over  the  creation  of  the  world  deem 
the  birth  of  one  little  babe  in  a  herdsman's  stall  at 
Bethlehem  an  event  of  less  magnitude,  or  less  worthy 
to  be  celebrated  with  heaven's  highest  anthems  ? 

"  'Twas  great  to  call  a  world  from  nought ; 
'Twas  greater  to  redeem." 

To  blot  out  the  sun  and  stars  ;  to  display  a  shining  form 
amid  the  clouds ;  to  shake  the  heavens  with  crashing 
thunderbolts  ;  to  let  loose  the  imprisoned  fires  of  the 
earth  and  melt  it  again  to  ancient  chaos,  is  but  to  exer- 
cise a  physical  omnipotence,  the  lowest  form  of  power, 
but  to  set  up  a  kingdom  of  holiness  in  the  hearts  of  a 
sinful  race,  a  kingdom  of  ideas  and  principles  regnant 
over  the  free  wills  of  men,  which  in  the  face  of  every 
motive  natural  to  the  corrupt  heart,  or  originating  in 
an  evil  world,  or  urged  by  the  prince  of  darkness, 
holds  on  its  conquering  way  from  age  to  age,  subduing 
not  only  individual  souls,  but  opinions,  customs,  laws, 
philosophies,  and  all  the  forces  that  move  society  and 
the  world,  is  to  exert  a  grander  power,  an  omnipotence 
of  a  higher  nature,  and  ampler  resources,  and  a  more 
god-like  beneficence.  It  is  only  because  we  are  so 
much  creatures  of  sense,  and  have  attained  to  so  little 
spiritual  discernment,  that  we  are  ever  most  impressed 
with  outward  glare  and  noise. 

Let  me  refer  to  an  event  of  our  own  day.     A  plain 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  PAROVSIA.  99 

man,  in  a  quiet  apartment,  takes  his  pen  and  in  a  few 
simple  words  makes  four  millions  of  slaves  free ! 
How  does  the  whole  world  thrill  with  the  sublimity  of 
that  act  of  justice  I  Gather  all  the  grand  physical 
phenomena  of  these  eighteen  centuries, — all  the  eclipses 
and  star-showers  and  volcanic  eruptions  and  earth- 
quakes and  tempests,  and  how  much  less  do  they  all 
together  signify  than  this  !  How  much  less  thought 
of  and  talked  about ;  how  much  less  have  they  affected 
the  destinies  of  men  and  of  nations ;  how  much  smaller 
the  space  they  will  occupy  on  the  page  of  human 
history !  No, — thoughts,  principles,  truths,  are  alone 
sublime.  If  we  had  a  spiritual  language  which  was 
the  pure  efflux  and  fitting  expression  of  spiritual  ideas, 
we  should  never  have  had  to  come  down  to  matter 
and  sense  to  find  words  to  set  forth  the  glory  of  Christ's 
Presence  among  men.  Let  us  not,  because  we  are 
thus  compelled,  insist  that  the  material  and  sensuous 
is  greater  than  the  spiritual.  No  outward  event  of 
history  was  ever  so  sublime  as  the  inauguration  scene 
at  Sinai.  And  yet  says  the  apostle,  "  If  the  ministra- 
tion of  death  written  and  engraven  on  stones  was  glo- 
rious, so  that  the  children  of  Israel  could  not  stead- 
fastly behold  the  face  of  Moses  for  the  glory  of  his 
countenance,  which  glory  was  to  be  done  away,  how 
shall  not  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit — the  introduc- 
tion and  carrying  forward  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  of 
Christ — be  rather  glorious?" 


PART  II. 


CHRIST    AS    KING 


Thus  was  Christ's  Parousia  to  be  commenced  among 
men.  He  who  first  came  in  the  flesh  in  a  state  of 
humiliation  and  suffering,  to  die  a  shameful  death  as  a 
sacrifice  for  sin,  was  now  to  come  a  second  time  in 
glory  and  establish  henceforth  his  abiding  Presence 
with  his  people.  And  the  whole  course  of  human 
affairs  thereafter,  both  prophetic,  as  delineated  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  providential,  as  developed  in  the 
history  of  the  church  and  the  world,  was  what  should 
occur  under  that  Presence. 

The  outline  of  that  history  is,  I  conceive,  comprehen- 
sively sketched  in  the  closing  part  of  our  Lord's  great 
discourse  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Having  stated  so 
fully  the  signs  and  the  time  of  his  coming  he  proceeds 
to  describe  the  purpose  of  it,  in  other  words  what 
shall  he  when  he  comes. 

I  beg  leave  to  protest  here  against  the  treatment 
to  which  this  discourse  is  so  generally  subjected  by 
severing  the  concluding  portion,  in  Matt.  2f:  31-46, 
from  the  rest,  and  interposing  between  the  two  an 
interval  of  time  of  unknown  ages.     The  reason  for 

100 


CHRIST  AS  KING.  101 

this,  of  course,  is  because  it  is  assumed  that  the  latter 
portion  relates  solely  to  the  general  judgment,  at  the 
end  of  the  world.  But  no  assumption,  I  submit,  can 
warrant  a  procedure  which  is  a  violation  of  the  very 
plainest  principles  of  interpretation.  The  unity  of 
every  discourse  ought  to  be  presumed  unless  there  are 
8ome  clear  proofs  that  the  author  intended  otherwise. 
Nothing  of  the  sort  appears  here.  So  entirely  are  all 
marks  or  indications  wanting  of  a  change  from  the  sub- 
ject with  which  our  Lord  began,  that  of  the  numerous 
commentators  who  insist  that  the  change  was  made, 
almost  no  two  agree  as  to  the  place  of  it. 

Besides,  the  subject  in  its  very  terms  continues  the 
same,  viz.,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  glory,  nor  is 
there  the  least  intimation  that  it  is  not  that  coming 
the  date  of  which  should  be  in  that  existing  genera- 
tion. Nay,  the  concluding  portion  of  the  discourse 
is  expressly  linked  to  the  former  portion  by  the  con- 
jiective  words  "when"  and  "then,"  which  forbid 
the  supposition  that  two  eras  are  intended.  "  When 
the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all 
the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit,"  etc. 
Compare  similar  expressions  elsewhere.  "  If  I  depart 
I  will  send  the  Comforter  unto  you  ;  and  ivhen  he  is 
come,  he  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,"  etc.  Will 
not  that  be  at  the  time  of  his  coming ?  "I  will  come 
by  you  into  Spain."  "  And  I  am  sure  that  when  I 
come  unto  you  I  shall  come  in  the  fullness  of  the 
blessing  of  the  gospel  of  Christ."  Rom.  15 :  28.  Had 
the  apostle  different  periods  in  his  mind  when  he  wrote 
this  ?     Surely  not.     Without  the  supposed  necessity, 


102  THE  PABOUSIA. 

derived  from  the  language  employed,  of  referring  this 
part  of  it  to  the  future,  no  one  would  have  thought,  on 
exegetical  grounds,  of  thus  treating  a  discourse  which 
has  throughout  the  most  logical  and  closely  compact- 
ed structure.  I  trust  it  will  be  shown  that  even  such 
application  of  it  does  not  render  that  treatment  neces- 
sary. 

Christ's  Presence  then  in  the  world,  beginning  in 
that  generation  and  set  forth  under  imagery  so  im- 
posing, was  to  be  the  presence  of  its  King.  "  Then 
shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory."  The  phrase 
"  to  sit  upon  "  is  the  appropriate  one  to  denote  acces- 
sion to  power,  as  when  we  familiarly  say  of  a  monarch, 
"  He  ascends  the  throne."  It  is  not  that  he  assumes 
that  dignity  to  perform  a  single  work  only,  viz.,  the 
judgment,  but  it  is  to  begin  a  reign  which  it  is  else- 
where declared  shall  have  no  end.  This  is  that  "  king- 
dom of  heaven  "  which  had  been  so  long  and  so  fondly 
anticipated ;  the  one  described  by  Daniel,  whose  sub- 
lime prophecy,  we  cannot  doubt,  was  the  prototype  of 
the  scene  here  depicted  by  Christ  himself.  "  I  saw  in 
the  night  visions,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  man 
came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the 
Ancient  of  days  and  tliey  brought  him  near  before 
him.  And  there  was  given  him  dominion  and  glory 
and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages, 
should  serve  him  ;  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  do- 
minion which  shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom 
that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed." 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHRIST'S  ACCESSION  TO  THE  THRO:NrE. 

This  is  expressly  affirmed  to  have  taken  place  at 
his  ascension.  Mark  16  :  19.  "  After  the  Lord  had 
spoken  unto  them,  he  was  received  up  into  heaven, 
and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  Grody  It  was  the  well- 
known  expression  employed  in  the  second  Psalm  to 
signify  the  exaltation  of  the  promised  Messiah  to  his 
royal  dignity  as  King  in  Zion.  The  same  fact  was 
affirmed  by  Peter  on  the  day  of  pentecost  (Acts  2 : 
33),  and  by  Stephen  as  revealed  to  his  direct  vision 
immediately  before  his  martyrdom.  Acts  7  :  b^).  In 
the  epistles  also  it  is  repeatedly  declared.  Heb.  1 : 
3.  "  Who — when  he  had  by  himself  purged  our  sins 
sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." 
Heb.  10 :  12.  "  This  man  after  he  had  offered  one 
sacrifice  for  sins  forever,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand 
of  God,  from  henceforth  expecting  till  his  enemies 
be  made  his  footstool."  Heb.  8:1.  "  We  have  such 
a  high  priest  who  is  set  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
throne  of  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens."  Heb.  12 :  2. 
"  And  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  tlnrone  of 
God."  1  Pet.  3  :  22.  "  Who  is  gone  into  heaven, 
and  is  on  the  right  hand  of  God ;  angels  and  authori- 
ties and  powers  being  made  subject  unto  him."  Phil. 
2 :  9-11.     "  God  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given 

103 


104  THE  PAR0U8IA. 

a  name  which  is  above  every  name ;  that  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ;  and 
that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  Eph.  1 :  20- 
23.  "  He  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at 
his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places,  far  above 
all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and  dominion, 
and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world 
but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come ;  and  hath  put  all 
things  under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  the  head 
over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body,  the 
fullness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 

These  and  many  more  passages  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter clearly  establish  the  fact  that  Christ's  actual  as- 
sumption of  his  throne  took  place  at  the  time  indica- 
ted, viz.,  within  that  generation.  In  other  words,  his 
reign  then  began. 

Hence  it  follows  that  we  are  not  to  look  for  another 
beginning  of  it  in  the  future.  Whatever  enlargement 
there  may  be  of  it,  whatever  new  accessions  of  power 
and  glory,  they  will  not  be  the  introduction  of  a  new 
kingdom,  but  epochs  in  one  already  established. 
There  is  but  one  kingdom  of  Christ ;  that  has  begun, 
and  is  not  to  be  begun  again. 

It  follows  further,  that  the  place  of  his  throne,  the 
capital — so  to  speak — of  his  kingdom,  is  in  heaven. 
The  language  I  have  cited,  it  seems  to  me,  is  entirely 
incompatible  with  the  idea  of  a  visible,  temporal  reign 
of  Christ  on  earth.  We  do  not  indeed  know  where 
heaven  is ;  if  locality  is  to  be  predicated  of  what  is  so 


CHBISrS  ACCESSION  TO  THE  THBONE.      105 

purely  spiritual ;  it  may  be  near  to  or  remote  from  the 
earth ;  but  so  much  at  least  is  certain  that  it  is  in  the 
invisible  sphere.  Heaven,  the  right  hand  of  God,  the 
majesty  on  high,  the  heavenly  places,  are  not  in  this 
world  of  sense.  It  is  in  them  that  Christ  is  en- 
throned ;  there  he  is  set  down  forever.  He  will  not 
change  that  throne  for  one  in  Jerusalem;  he  will  not 
remove  from  the  invisible  and  celestial  sphere  to  a 
visible  and  terrestrial  one. 


CHAPTER    II. 

CHRIST  COMING  IN  HIS  KINGDOM. 

It  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the 
word  coming  can  only  be  used  of  a  divine  being  in 
the  sense  of  manifestation.  The  accession  of  our  Lord 
to  his  throne,  at  his  ascension,  was  speedily  followed 
by  that  wonderful  event  which  first  disclosed  to  men 
his  kingly  power,  and  initiated  among  them  his  visi- 
ble kingdom. 

"Next  to  the  appearance  of  the  Son  of  God  on 
earth,"  says  Neander,  "this  was  the  greatest  event,  as 
the  commencing  point  of  the  new  divine  life,  proceed- 
ing from  him  to  the  human  race,  which  has  since 
spread  and  operated  through  successive  ages,  and  will 
continue  to  operate  until  its  final  object  is  attained, 
and  all  mankind  are  transformed  into  the  image  of 
Christ."     P.  &  T.,  p.  18. 

The  day  of  Pentecost, — the  day  which  commem- 
orated the  giving  of  the  law  at  Sinai,  and  the  institu- 
tion of  the  first  kingdom  of  heaven — had  come.  Je- 
rusalem was  full  of  people, — not  its  own  citizens  alone, 
but  from  all  parts  of  Palestine  and  surrounding  coun- 
tries, who  had  come  hither  to  attend  the  national  festi- 
val. Suddenly  a  sound  is  heard,  as  of  a  mighty  tem- 
pest, filling  the  city  with  alarm,  and  causing  a  vast 
concourse  to  run  together.     Lambent  flames  descend 

106 


CHRIST  COMING  IN  HIS  KINGDOM.  107 

and  rest  on  the  heads  of  the  apostles,  and  with  loud 
voices  they  speak  in  languages  they  had  never  learned. 
It  was  a  stupendous  phenomenon,  and  no  wonder  the 
thoughtful  were  amazed  and  were  in  doubt,  saying 
one  to  another,  "  What  meaneth  this  ?  "  Then  Peter, 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  stands  forth  and  explains 
the  event.  "  The  days  are  come,"  said  he,  "  predict- 
ed by  Joel ;  the  Spirit  of  God  is  poured  out ;  the  won- 
ders in  heaven  and  signs  on  the  earth  appear,  mark- 
ing the  close  of  the  old  age  and  the  beginning  of  the 
new ;  Jesus,  whom  ye  crucified,  has  ascended  to  his 
throne,  and  hath  shed  forth  this  which  ye  see  and 
hear ;  that  all  the  house  of  Israel  may  assuredly  know 
that  God  hath  made  him  both  Loed  and  Messiah." 
How  thrilling  these  words,  addressed  to  that  awe- 
stricken  crowd!  Three  thousand  were  convinced, 
and  accepted,  on  the  spot,  their  manifested  king. 

A  few  days  afterward,  the  lame  man,  lying  at  the 
Beautiful  Gate,  was  healed ;  and  the  apostles  being 
called  to  account  for  the  fact  again  referred  it  to  the 
power  of  the  risen  and  glorified  Jesus,  and  besought 
the  people  to  repent,  that  the  days  of  refreshing,  of 
which  this  was  but  a  twilight  gleam,  might  fully  come, 
and  the  Lord  might  return  in  his  power  to  bless  them 
and  all  nations.  Being  released  from  their  confine- 
ment, they  seek  again  the  society  of  the  believers,  and 
together  sing  the  second  Psalm,  the  coronation  anthem 
of  the  Messiah,  who  was  thus  manifesting  himself  in 
power  as  the  Saviour  and  King  of  men. 

But  another  and  different  exhibition  of  that  power 
was  needed  amid  these  beginnings  of  the  Messianic 


108  THE  PABOUSIA. 

days.  We  have  seen  that  Christ  was  to  reign  in  the 
two-fold  capacity  of  king  and  judge ;  not  merely  to 
bestow  blessings  upon  his  friends,  but  to  destroy  and 
punish  his  enemies.  Just  then  happened  the  sad 
episode  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  by  which  was  shown 
that  the  newly  enthroned  Lord  whom  they  worshiped 
was  arrayed  in  frowns  for  the  false  and  disobedient, 
and  that  no  scheme  of  sin  could  deceive  his  omnis- 
cience or  presume  on  his  indulgence. 

Thus,  then,  it  was  that  Christ  began  to  come  in  his 
kingdom.  A  new  power  began  to  be  felt  among  men, 
confounding  the  politicians  and  rulers  of  that  day, — 
one  which  no  decrees  could  arrest,  no  cunning  plots 
could  circumvent,  no  force  could  resist.  That  power 
made  itself  visible  and  tangible,  not  indeed  to  the  out- 
er senses  of  men,  but  to  their  spiritual  apprehensions, 
producing  effects  which  all  the  eclat  of  his  bodily 
presence  and  of  his  innumerable  miracles  wrought  in 
the  flesh  had  failed  to  achieve.  Still  as  yet  no  out- 
ward kingdom  was  set  up.  The  converts  did  not 
leave  the  national  synagogues  or  temple ;  they  kept 
the  feasts,  observed  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  circum- 
cised their  children,  and  were  in  all  visible  seeming 
Jews,  still  under  the  forms  of  the  ancient  aion^  and 
still  accustomed  to  expect  and  to  speak  of  the  aion  to 
come.  One  more  great  event  was  requisite  to  com- 
plete the  Lord's  advent,  to  establish  his  Parousia,  and 
give  a  visible  inauguration  of  his  kingdom. 

And  such  event  happened,  just  as  he  had  said  it 
would,  in  that  generation.  Jerusalem,  the  city  of 
David,  the  capital  of  the  Jewish  state,  with  its  sacred 


CHRIST  COMING  IN  HIS  KINGDOM.  109 

temple,  the  shrine  and  sanctuary  of  the  Jewish  church, 
was  laid  low.  A  siege,  the  most  bloody  that  the  pen 
of  history  was  ever  called  to  describe,  attended  with 
horrors  which  no  pen  could  adequately  depict,  yet  in 
its  minutest  details  singularly  fulfilling  a  long  line  of 
ancient  prophecies, — a  siege  in  which,  according  to 
Josephus,  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  people  perished, 
ended  forever  the  ancient  dispensation,  both  as  a  civil 
and  religious  system.  Then  it  was  that  the  Christian 
church,  emerging  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  theocracy, 
and  armed  alike  with  miraculous  power,  and  the  faith 
and  zeal  of  that  martyr  age,  went  forth  on  its  appoint- 
ed mission  to  subdue  the  world  to  her  King.  Then  it 
was  that  the  kingdom  of  God  came  with  power,  and 
Christ  came  in  his  kingdom.  The  world  looked  with 
dismay  upon  that  tragedy,  and  though  many  were  too 
blinded  by  ignorance  and  unbelief  to  discern  its  full 
import,  yet  ever^  eye  did  see  it  (Rev.  1:7);  and  since 
then,  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  the  gaze  of  the  world 
has  rested  upon  it,  as  the  clear  showing  forth  of  the 
awful  majesty  of  Christ,  the  rejected  King  of  the 
Jews,  yet  none  the  less  the  Lord,  the  Judge,  who  thus 
came  to  men  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  began 
among  them  that  kingdom  which  is  ultimately  to  sub- 
due all  other  kingdoms  and  fill  the  earth  with  his 
glory. 

In  this  view  of  the  matter,  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
the  fact  that  the  apostles  and  others  who  lived  in  the 
period  between  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  the  over- 
throw of  Jerusalem  spoke  of  the  coming  and  king- 
dom as  still  future.     It  was  so  in  its  outward  and 


110  TEE  PAROUBIA, 

most  imposing  aspects ;  but  in  its  germ  and  principles 
it  had  already  commenced.  Both  forms  of  speech, 
therefore,  were  not  inappropriate.  "  This  is  that 
spoken  of  by  Joel,"  said  Peter,  "the  sun  shall  be 
turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood,"  yet 
twenty  years  later  he  could  also  say,  "  Nevertheless 
we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth."  Though  the  new  kingdom  "  came  " 
at  the  Pentecost,  it  was  also  still  to  "  come  "  at  the 
grand  catastrophe  which  abolished  the  old.  This  is 
precisely  the  same  paradox  that  attends  any  statement 
of  the  relations  of  Judaism  to  Christianity.  It  will 
be  admitted  by  all  that  the  latter  was  to  succeed  and 
supercede  the  former.  When,  then,  did  the  Jewish 
institutions  cease?  We  answer  when  Jerusalem  it- 
jself  was  destroyed.  Till  then,  its  sacrifices,  its  ritual, 
its  festivals,  its  whole  code,  ceremonial  and  civil,  were 
continued.  When  did  Christianity  begin?  Forty 
years  before,  we  also  say,  for  then  began  its  promul- 
gation, its  worship  and  its  sacraments.  In  absolute 
doctrinal  strictness,  we  might  affirm  that  Judaism,  as 
a  divine  institution,  expired  with  the  crucifixion  and 
resurrection  of  Jesus,  in  whom  all  the  ancient  types 
were  fulfilled,  and  that  Christianity  began  at  precise- 
ly the  same  moment.  But  to  outward  view  and  to 
popular  apprehension,  the  two  for  a  time  co-existed. 
The  beginning  of  the  new  overlapped  the  close  of  the 
old ;  devout  men  observed  both  alike,  receiving  both 
circumcision  and  baptism,  celebrating  the  passover 
and  the  Eucharist,  keeping  the  Sabbath  and  the  Lord's 
day,  meeting  in  the  synagogue  service,  yet  not  for- 


CHRIST  COMING  IN  HIS  KINGDOM.  Ill 

saking  the  assembling  of  themselves  together  as  be- 
lievers in  Jesus.  Paul  himself  paid  his  Nazarite  vow 
in  the  temple,  and  claimed  to  be  a  Pharisee ;  James 
addressed  his  epistle  to  the  twelve  tribes  scattered 
abroad.  By  themselves  and  by  the  heathen  around 
them,  the  Cliristians  were  generally  regarded  as  Jews, 
until  persecution  compelled  them  to  separate,  and 
form  distinct  organizations  of  their  own.*^  So  then, 
the  fact  that  it  was  customary  for  the  apostles  in  that 
day  to  speak  of  the  coming  and  kingdom  of  Christ  as 
still  future,^  though  very  near,  is  no  proof  at  all  that 
ill  its  higher  significance  it  had  not  already  taken 
place.  It  is  only  because  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem made  that  fact  open  and  palpable  to  all  the  world 
that  the  grand  epoch  was  popularly  referred  to  that 
date. 

It  is  proper  to  add  also  that  in  this  sense  of  man- 
ifestation, the  coming  of  Christ  may  be  regarded  as 
progressive.  Every  new  disclosure  of  his  kingly  pow- 
er among  men  is  a  new  coming  to  them.  It  is  in  this 
sense  that  we  are  taught  to  pray  daily,  "  Thy  kingdom 
come,"  not  implying  that  in  reality  it  is  not  yet  estab- 
lished, but  asking  that  it  may  come  more  and  more 
until  its  ultimate  triumphs  are  secured  in  its  universal 
supremacy  over  the  earth. 

*  Neander's  Planting  and  Training  of  the  Church,  p.  37.  Gib- 
bon's Decline  and  Fall,  chapter  xvi. 

^Dr.  Craven,  in  Lange's  Com.  on  Revelation,  pp.  93-100, 
makes  this  a  principal  argument  in  support  of  his  theory,  that 
the  kingdom  of  Christ — the  true  Basileia — has  not  yet  been  es- 
tablished upon  earth,  but  is  still  future. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  KINGDOM  LIKE  A  GRAIN  OF  MUSTARD  SEED. 

•'  It  is,"  said  the  Lord,  "  like  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds,  but  when 
it  is  grown  it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  becom- 
eth  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge 
in  the  branches  thereof."  "  It  is,"  said  he  again,  "  like 
unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal  till  the  whole  was  leavened  "  (Matt. 
13  :  31-33).  "  It  is,"  once  again,  "  as  if  a  man  should 
cast  seed  into  the  ground,  and  should  sleep  and  rise 
night  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  up  and 
grow,  he  knoweth  not  how.  For  the  earth  bringeth 
forth  fruit  of  herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear  "  (Mark  4 :  26,  28). 
Similar  in  its  import  was  Daniel's  prophetic  descrip- 
tion— "  A  stone  cut  out  without  hands,  which  became 
a  great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole  earth." 

That  the  manifested  kingdom  of  Christ  at  its  be- 
ginning corresponded  to  these  predictions  is  a  historic 
fact.  Six-score  obscure  persons, — men  and  women — 
meeting  daily  in  a  secluded  upper  room  in  Jerusalem, 
were  all  it  could  boast  of  on  the  morning  of  that  mem- 
orable Pentecost. 

For  a  long  time  also,  though  the  number  of  the  be- 
lievers was  much  increased,  yet  the  very  fact  just  men- 

112 


THE  KINGDOM  LIKE  MUSTARD  SEED.         113 

tioned,  that  they  did  not  formally  separate  themselves 
from  the  national  worship,  kept  them  in  a  good  degree 
of  obscurity.  The  acute  though  skeptical  Gibbon 
dwells  upon  this  as  one  reason  why  they  so  far  escaped 
the  malice  of  the  pagans.  "  By  the  wise  dispensation 
of  Providence,  a  mysterious  veil  was  cast  over  the  in- 
fancy of  the  church  which,  till  the  faith  of  the  Chris- 
tians was  matured  and  their  numbers  were  multiplied, 
served  to  protect  them,  not  only  from  the  malice  but 
even  from  the  knowledge  of  the  pagan  world.  The 
slow  and  gradual  abolition  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies 
afforded  a  safe  and  innocent  disguise  to  the  more  early 
proselytes  of  the  gospel.  As  they  were,  for  the  greater 
part,  of  the  race  of  Abraham,  they  were  distinguished 
by  the  peculiar  mark  of  circumcision,  offered  up  their 
devotions  in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  till  its  final 
destruction,  and  received  both  the  law  and  the  proph- 
ets as  the  genuine  inspirations  of  the  Deity.  The 
Gentile  converts  who,  by  a  spiritual  adoption,  had 
been  associated  to  the  hope  of  Israel,  were  likewise 
confounded  under  the  garb  and  appearance  of  Jews> 
and  as  the  polytheists  paid  less  regard  to  articles  of 
faith  than  to  the  external  worship,  the  new  sect  which 
carefully  concealed  or  faintly  annoxmced  its  future 
greatness  and  ambition,  w«.s  permitted  to,  shelter  itself 
under  the  general  tele3:a.tyDn  which  was  granted  to  an 
ancient  and  cele]pii?a/^:ed  people  in  the  Roman  empire."^ 
These  facts^  §iriMngly  illustrate  the  saying  of  our 
Lord  that  ^^^e  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  ob- 

a  Declia^  m!^  Fall,  ch^l^.  xyil;. 


114  THE  PAB0U8IA, 

servation "  (Luke  17 :  20).*  And  they  serve  also  to 
show  the  error  of  those  who  deny  that  the  true  king- 
dom of  the  Messiah  was  that  which  was  begun  at  the 
Pentecost.  That  kingdom,  they  say,  is  still  future ; 
it  is  to  commence  after  the  conquest  of  the  world  to 
Christ  has  been  completed,  and  to  be  a  millennium  of 
rest  and  peace.  In  this  view  of  it  there  is  to  be  no 
period  of  infancy  and  weakness ;  it  is  to  be  ushered 
upon  the  world  at  once  in  its  noon-day  splendor.  But 
such  is  not  the  description  which  Christ  himself  gives 
of  its  earliest  stage.  Like  all  things  having  life  it  be- 
gins in  the  germ ;  it  is  developed  by  an  inward  law  of 
its  own,  and  attains  its  full  strength  and  glory  only  in 
its  maturity. 

« Ajate,  p.  89,  a. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PERSECUTION. 

Scarcely  had  the  new  kingdom  of  heaven  been 
planted  before  it  was  attacked  by  persecution.  If  its 
weakness  shielded  it  for  a  time  from  foreign  foes,  it 
did  not  avert  the  malice  of  its  enemies  at  home.  As 
its  corner  stone  was  laid  in  the  death  of  its  Founder, 
so  its  superstructure  was  built  up  and  cemented  in 
the  blood  of  his  followers  who  laid  down  their  lives 
for  his  sake. 

This  feature  of  the  kingdom  had  been  long  predic- 
ted and  was  one  of  its  distinguishing  characteristics. 
"  The  kings  of  the  earth,"  said  David,  "set  themselves, 
and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together  against  the  Lord, 
and  against  his  anointed,  saying.  Let  us  break  their 
bands  asunder  and  cast  away  their  cords  from  us  '* 
(Ps.  2:  2,  3).  "They  will  deliver  you  up  to  the 
councils,"  said  Christ,  "  and  they  will  scourge  you  in 
their  synagogues.  And  ye  shall  be  brought  before 
governors  and  kings  for  my  sake,  for  a  testimony 
against  them  and  the  Gentiles.  And  ye  shall  be  hated 
of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake ;  but  he  that  endureth 
to  the  end  shall  be  saved"  (Matt.  10:  17).  "We 
must,  through  much  tribulation,  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  "  (Acts  14 :  22).  "  Yea,  and  all  that  will 
live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution  " 

116 


116  THE  PAROUSIA. 

2  Tim.  3  :  11).  Hence  another  proof  that  the  institu- 
tion set  up  at  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  the  true  "  king- 
dom of  heaven  "  that  should  be  inaugurated  at  Christ's 
coming.  If  that  kingdom  is  still  future, — the  king- 
dom of  the  so-called  millennium — it  can  never  be  a 
persecuted  one,  for,  by  the  supposition,  the  enemies  of 
its  king  are  then  all  destroyed. 

The  prophetic  history  of  these  persecutions  is  given 
us  in  the  book  of  Kevelation.  We  cannot  pretend  to 
fathom  all  the  mysteries  contained  in  that  portion  of 
the  sacred  volume,  nor  is  this  the  place  to  enter  into 
the  many  controverted  questions  which  have  been  dis- 
cussed respecting  it.  After  many  years  study  of  it, 
I  have  come  very  decidedly  to  the  conviction  that  the 
general  view  of  its  contents  and  of  the  mode  of  its  in- 
terpretation presented  us  in  the  Commentary  of  Prof. 
Stuart,  is,  with  some  modifications,  the  true  one.  No 
other  which  I  have  seen  seems  so  consonant  with 
sound  reason,  and  with  the  true  principles  which 
should  guide  in  the  exposition  of  prophecy.  I  believe 
it  is  growing  in  favor  among  the  ablest  scholars  both 
in  Europe  and  America.* 

The  leading  design  of  the  Revelation,  according  to 
this  view  is  thus  stated.  "  John  wrote  to  console  and 
admonish  and  encourage  the  churches,  then  bleeding 
at  every  pore  under  the  glittering  weapons  of  a  blood- 
%irsty  tyrant.     And  what  does  he  do  in  order  to  ac- 

a  As  one  of  the  most  recent  instances  of  this  fact,  I  may  name 
the  learned  and  eloquent  Professor  Edward  Reuss  of  the  Prot- 
estant Theological  Seminary  at  Strasbourg,  to  whose  able  work 
on  the  "History  of  Christian  Theology  in  the  Apostolic  Age," 
I  have  several  times  referred. 


PERSECUTION.  117 

complish  his  purpose  ?  He  assures  the  churches  that 
this  dreadful  contest  is  not  always  to  continue.  Ere 
long  victory  will  perch  on  the  banners  of  the  cross. 
The  church  will  not  become  extinct  by  all  which  ty- 
rants can  do,  but  will  rise  from  its  ruinous  state,  will 
expand,  will  fill  the  world  with  its  triumphs,  and  pros- 
trate in  the  dust  all  who  lift  up  a  hand  against  it.  To 
crown  all,  he  looks  with  a  prophetic  eye  through  the 
vista  of  distant  ages,  and  sees  that  the  setting  sun  of 
the  church  militant,  and  the  old  age  of  the  world  in 
which  it  dwells  will  be  glorious ;  and  finally  that  the 
new  Jerusalem  will  be  her  abode  through  ages  that 
have  no  end.  Short  indeed,  and  mere  outlines,  are 
the  descriptions  of  all  that  belongs  to  the  distant  fu- 
ture. But  they  serve  to  finish  the  picture  which  John 
had  begun,  and  thus  to  complete  the  measure  of  con- 
solation and  encouragement  which  he  designed  to 
administer."     Vol.  1,  pp.  207,  208. 

Before  I  attempt  to  illustrate  this  view  of  the  Rev- 
elation in  its  application  to  the  subject  before  us,  let 
us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  records  of  actual  his- 
tory as  to  the  persecutions  which  have  in  fact  been 
waged  against  Christianity. 

Those  persecutions  have  sprung,  for  the  most  part, 
from  three  sources,  Jewish,  Pagan,  and  Mohammedan. 
I  do  not  include  the  dissensions  which  have  arisen  with- 
in the  Christian  body,  between  different  branches  or 
sects,  which,  though  resulting  too  often  in  bloodshed, 
cannot  be  designated  as  assaults  upon  Christianity 
itself.  Nor  would  I  be  understood  as  comprehending 
every  local  or  casual  outbreak  of  hostility  which  has 


118  THE  PAROUSIA. 

been  encountered  by  the  gospel  in  its  progress  during 
these  eighteen  centuries.  The  classification  is  general, 
yet  embracing  within  it  all  that  has  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  be  named  in  such  a  connection. 

The  first  of  these  persecutions  was  waged  by  Ju- 
daism, the  ancient  and  now  apostate  theocracy,  which 
blinded  by  spiritual  pride,  and  eagerly  looking  for  a 
sensuous  kingdom  which  should  restore  its  former 
prestige,  rejected  and  attempted  to  destroy  the  real 
kingdom  which  God  had  promised.  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  its  details ;  they  are  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  are  familiar  to  all  readers.  Beginning  with 
the  crucifixion  of  its  own  Messiah,  this  malignant  per- 
secutor pursued  the  infant  church  with  relentless 
hostility  for  forty  years,  till  its  career  was  cut  short 
by  its  own  retributive  destruction. 

The  second  was  inflicted  by  Paganism,  then  en- 
throned on  the  seven  hills  of  imperial  Rome.  The 
ancient  policy  of  the  mistress  of  the  world  toward 
different  religions  had  been  one  of  toleration,  and  no 
sect  was  molested  by  law  so  long  as  it  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  public  peace. ^  But  this  policy  under 
the  lawless  cruelty  of  the  emperor  Nero  was  abandon- 
ed. Detected  in  his  wanton  crime  of  setting  the  city 
on  fire,  he  meanly  sought  to  avert  odium  from  himself 
by  charging  the  crime  upon  the  Christians,  and  pro- 
ceeded accordingly  to  let  loose  upon  them  the  most 
fearful  outrages.  From  that  time  till  the  abdication 
of  Diocletian,  A.  D.,  303,  historians  commonly  reckon 

^Mosheim,  Ecc.  Hist.,  1,  1,  8. 


PERSECUTION.  119 

ten  such  persecutions,*  in  which  both  at  Rome  and  in 
the  provinces  every  effort  possible  was  put  forth  to  ex- 
tirpate the  new  religion,  but  in  vain.  The  heroic 
constancy  of  the  sufferers  proved  the  most  effective 
preaching  of  its  doctrines,  and  it  soon  passed  into  a 
proverb  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of 
the  church. 

The  third  general  assault  upon  Christianity  was 
from  Mohammedanism.  The  founder  of  this  great 
religious  power,  indeed,  both  inculcated  and  practiced 
toleration.  He  recognized  Christ  as  a  true  prophet, 
and  the  Scriptures  as  a  revelation  from  God,  and 
though  his  faith  was  propagated  by  the  sword,  yet  its 
violence  was  turned  against  pagans  and  idolaters 
rather  than  against  Jews  or  Christians.^  Even  the  two 
great  Saracen  empires  of  the  Caliphs  in  the  East  and 
the  Moors  in  the  West,  though  often  at  war  with  the 
Christian  nations,  had  little  ability  to  molest  the  church 
as  a  whole.  So  long  as  Rome,  now  professedly  at  least 
a  Christian  empire,  maintained  its  power,  Christianity 
was  safe  under  its  protection.  It  was  not  until  the  four- 
teenth century,  upon  the  rise  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 
of  the  Turks,  who  captured  Constantinople  and  over- 
ran the  larger  portions  of  Asia  and  Europe,  that  the 
Crescent  acquired  domination  over  the  Cross.    Thence- 

*"  The  ancient  history  of  the  church  does  not  support  precise- 
ly this  number,  for  if  we  reckon  only  the  general  or  more  severe 
persecutions  they  were  fewer  than  ten ;  but  if  we  include  the 
provincial  and  more  limited  persecutions,  the  number  will  be 
much  greater  than  ten." — Mosheim  Ecc.  Hist.,  1,  5,  4. 

^  See  this  subject  fully  treated  in  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall. 
Chapter  II. 


120  THE  PAR0U8IA. 

forward  the  scenes  of  the  ancient  persecutions  were 
renewed ;  the  most  inhuman  cruelties  were  practiced 
upon  those  who  were  denounced  as  infidels  and  dogs. 
They  were  robbed,  were  sold  into  slavery,  and 
butchered  without  mercy,  until  the  name  of  Turk 
became  the  synonym  of  all  that  was  feared  or  ab- 
horred throughout  Christendom. 

Taking  then  as  our  guide  these  known  facts  in  the 
actual  history  of  persecution,  let  us  see  what  light 
they  throw  upon  the  interpretations  of  its  prophetic 
history  as  given  us  in  this  book. 

SECTION  I. 
JUDAISM. 

The  Jewish  persecution  is  represented  by  our  Lord 
in  his  discourse  on  Olivet  as  preceding  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  predic- 
tion, in  an  expanded  form,  is  set  forth  in  the  Apocalypse, 
chaps,  vi.-xi.  Nor  is  this  conviction  at  all  shaken  by 
the  objection  that  the  book  may  have  been  written 
after  that  catastrophe.  This  is  a  question  in  regard 
to  which  there  are  and  doubtless  will  continue  to  be 
different  opinions.  It  is  freely  acknowledged  that  the 
weight  of  external  testimony  is  in  favor  of  the  later 
date ;  while  the  internal  evidence  seems  even  more 
decisively  to  point  to  the  earlier  one,  viz.  A.  D.^  67, 
during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Nero.  But  even 
conceding  the  former  opinion,  I  see  nothing  in  it  to 
forbid  the  reference  of  this  portion  of  the  book  to  the 
period  of  the  Jewish  persecutions.  If  the  object  of 
the  writer  was  to  console  the  churches  then  suffering 


JUDAISM.  121 

under  the  tyrannies  of  Domitian,  he  might  well  do 
so  by  first  depicting  the  overthrow  of  their  earlier 
enemy  in  Judea.  In  other  words,  the  scope  of  a  book 
in  the  main  prophetic  does  not  preclude  occasional 
passages  which  are  retrospective.  In  this  way  the 
course  of  God's  dealings  with  the  foes  of  his  church 
may  be  exhibited  as  a  whole,  and  the  scenes  of  the 
future  become  doubly  impressive  in  the  light  shed 
upon  them  from  the  past. 

But  for  myself,  I  feel  compelled  to  give  a  prepon- 
derating weight  to  the  internal  evidence  of  the  date 
of  this  book,^  which  as  already  remarked,  would  fix  it 
in  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  before  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  In  chapter  vi.,  the  red  horse,  symbolizing 
war,  the  black  horse,  famine,  and  the  pale  horse,  pes- 
tilence, are  the  counterpart  of  the  same  woes  described 
in  Matt.  24 :  6,  7.  The  souls  of  the  martyrs  disclosed 
under  the  fifth  seal  as  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  are 
the  victims  of  the  cruelties  enumerated  in  Matt.  24 : 
9-13.  The  opening  of  the  sixth  seal  presents  to  us 
the  same  phenomena,  the  darkening  of  the  sun  and 
moon,  the  falling  of  'the  stars,  etc.,  which  are  set 
forth  in  Matt.  24 :  29,  30.  The  sealing  of  the  hundred 
and  forty-four  thousand  is  the  gathering  of  the  elect 
in  Matt.  24:  31.  Chapters  viii  and  ix  are  a  vivid  pic- 
torial representation  in  detail  of  the  "  great  tribula- 
tion "  that  should  come  upon  Jerusalem  and  Judaea 
immediately  preceding  the  overthrow  of  the  city.  We 
are  not  to  look,  of  course,  for  minute  correspondences 

*  See  a  well  prepared  summary  of  the  argument  by  Dr.  J.  M. 
Macdonald  in  the  Bib.  Sac,  Vol.  26,  pp.  457-486. 


122 


THE  PAROUSIA. 


in  single  events.  It  is  picture  and  symbol  throughout, 
designed  to  teach  us  in  general  the  fearful  humiliation 
and  destruction  of  the  power  which  had  persecuted 
the  church  and  set  itself  in  array  against  her  King. 
The  seventh  trumpet  in  chapters  10  :  7 — 11 :  15,  brings 
us  to  the  consummation  when  the  mystery  of  God 
should  be  finished,  and  the  new  kingdom  of  the  Mes- 
siah, which  is  to  be  supreme  over  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  is  established,  and  which  is  to  continue  for- 


ever. 


The  striking  correspondence  between  our  Lord's 
discourse  in  Matthew  and  this  portion  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse will  be  most  apparent  by  arraying  the  two  side 
by  side. 


MATTHEW  XXIV. 

6  And  ye  shall  hear  of  wars  and 
rumors  of  wars:  see  that  ye  be 
not  troubled:  for  all  these  things 
must  come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is 
not  yet. 

7  For  nation  shall  rise  against 
nation,  and  kingdom  against  king- 
dom: and  there  shall  be  famines, 
and  pestilences,  and  earthquakes 
in  divers  places. 

8  All  these  are  the  beginning  of 
sorrows. 


REVELATION. 

3  And  when  he  had  opened  the 
second  seal,  I  heard  the  second 
beast  say,  Come  and  see. 

4  And  there  went  out  another 
horse  that  was  red :  and  power  was 
given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to 
take  peace  from  the  earth,  and 
that  they  should  kill  one  another : 
and  there  was  given  unto  him  a 
great  sword. 

5  And  when  he  had  opened  the 
third  seal,  I  heard  the  third  beast 
say.  Come  and  see.  And  I  beheld, 
and  lo,  a  black  horse;  and  he 
that  sat  on  him  had  a  pair  of  bal- 
ances in  his  hand. 

G  And  I  heard  a  voice  in  the 
midst  of  the  four  beasts  say,  A 
measure  of  wheat  for  a  penny, 
and  three  measures  of  barley  for 
a  penny ;  and  see  thou  hurt  not  the 
oil  and  the  wine. 

7  And  when  he  had  opened  the 
fourth  seal,  I  heard  the  voice  of 
the  fourth  beast  say.  Come  and 

8  And  I  looked,  and  behold,  a 
pale  horse :  and  his  name  that  sat 
on  him  was  Death,  and  hell  fol- 
lowed with  him.  And  power  was 
given  unto  them  over  the  fourth 
part  of  the  earth,  to  kill  with  a 
sword,  and  with  hunger,  and  with 
death,  and  with  the  beasts  of  the 
earth. 


JUDAISM. 


123 


9  Then  shall  they  deliver  yovi 
up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall  kill 
you :  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all 
nations  for  my  name's  sake. 

10  And  then  shall  many  be  of- 
fended, and  shall  betray  one  an- 
other, and  shall  hate  one  another. 

11  Anl  maiiy  false  prophets 
shall  rise,  and  shall  deceive  many. 

12  And  because  iniquity  shall 
abound,  the  love  of  many  shall 
wax  cold. 

13  But  he  that  shall  endure 
unto  the  end,  the  same  shall  be 
saved. 


21  For  then  shall  be  great  trib- 
ulation, such  as  was  not  since  the 
beginning  of  the  world  to  this 
time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be. 

22  And  except  those  days  should 
be  shortened,  there  should  no  flesh 
be  saved :  but  for  the  elect's  sake 
those  days  shall  be  shortened. 

29  Immediately  after  the  trib- 
ulation of  those  days,  shall  the 
sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon 
shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the 
stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and 
the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall 
be  shaken: 

30  And  then  shall  appear  the 
sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven : 
and,  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of 
the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall 
see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and 
great  glory. 

31  And  he  shall  send  his  angels 
with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet, 
and  they  shall  gather  together  his 
elect  from  the  four  winds  from 
one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other. 


31  "When  the  Son  of  man  shall 
come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the 
holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall 
he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory : 

32  And  before  him  shall  be 
gathered  all  nations :  and  he  shall 
separate  them  one  from  another, 


9  And  when  he  had  opened  the 
fifth  seal,  I  saw  under  the  altar 
the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain 
for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the 
testimony  which  they  held : 

10  And  they  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  saying.  How  long,  O  Lord, 
holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge 
and  avenge  our  blood  on  them, 
that  dwell  on  the  earth  ? 

11  And  white  robes  were  given 
unto  every  one  of  them;  and  it 
was  said  unto  them,  that  they 
should  rest  yet  for  a  little  season, 
until  their  fellow-servants  also 
and  their  brethren,  that  should 
be  killed  as  they  were,  should  be 
fulfilled. 

(The  sounding  of  the  seven 
trumpets,  chapters  viii  and  ix.) 


12  And  I  beheld  when  he  had 
opened  the  sixth  seal,  and  lo, 
there  was  a  great  earthquake ;  and 
the  sun  became  black  as  sack- 
cloth of  hair,  and  the  moon  be- 
came as  blood : 

13  And  the  stars  of  heaven  fell 
unto  the  earth,  even  as  a  fig  tree 
casteth  her  untimely  figs,  when 
she  is  shaken  of  a  mighty  wind. 

14  And  the  heaven  departed  as 
a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  together : 
and  every  mountain  and  island 
were  moved  out  of  their  places. 

2  And  I  saw  another  angel  as- 
cending from  the  east,  having  the 
seal  of  the  living  God:  and  he 
cried  with  a  loud  voice  to  the 
four  angels,  to  whom  it  was  given 
to  hurt  the  earth  and  the  sea, 

3  Saying,  Hurt  not  the  earth, 
neither  the  sea,  nor  the  trees,  till 
we  have  sealed  the  servants  of 
our  God  in  their  foreheads. 

4  And  I  heard  the  number  of 
them  which  were  sealed:  and 
there  were  sealed  an  hundred  and 
forty  and  four  thousand  of  all  the 
tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

15  And  the  seventh  angel 
sounded;  and  there  were  great 
voices  in  heaven,  saying,  The 
kingdoms  of  this  world  are  be- 
come the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord, 
and  of  his  Christ;  and  he  shall 
reign  forever  and  ever. 


124 


THE  PAROUSIA. 


as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep 
from  his  goats : 

33  And  he  shall  set  the  sheep 
on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats 
on  the  left. 

34  Then  shall  the  King  say  unto 
them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world : 

etc.,  etc. 


16  And  the  four  and  twenty 
elders  which  sat  before  God  on 
their  seats,  fell  upon  their  faces, 
and  worshiped  God. 

17  Saying,  We  give  thee  thanks, 
O  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art, 
and  wast,  and  art  to  come;  be- 
cause thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy 
great  power,  and  hast  reigned. 

18.  And  the  nations  were  an- 
gry, and  thy  wrath  is  come,  and 
the  time  of  the  dead,  that  they 
should  be  judged,  and  that  thou 
shouldest  give  reward  unto  thy 
servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the 
saints,  and  to  them  that  fear  thy 
name,  small  and  great;  and 
shouldest  destroy  them,  which  de- 
stroy the  earth. 


Upon  this  subject  the  language  of  Dean  Alford  is 
very  explicit,  and  all  the  more  convincing  from  the 
fact  that  he  holds  to  the  later  date  of  the  composi- 
tion of  the  Apocalypse. 

"  The  close  connection  between  our  Lord's  prophetic 
discourse  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  the  line  of 
Apocalyptic  prophecy  cannot  fail  to  have  struck  every 
student  of  Scripture.  If  it  be  suggested  that  such 
connection  may  be  merely  apparent,  and  we  subject  it 
to  the  test  of  more  accurate  examination,  our  first  im- 
pression will,  I  think,  become  continually  stronger  that 
the  two  being  revelations  from  the  same  Lord  con- 
cerning things  to  come,  and  those  things  being,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  bound  by  tlie  four-fold  '  Come  '  (^ipxou) 
which  introduces  the  seals  to  the  same  reference  to 
Christ's  coming,  must,  corresponding  as  they  do  in  or- 
der and  significance,  answer  to  one  another  in  detail, 
and  thus  the  discourse  in  Matt.  24  becomes,  as  Mr. 
Isaac  Williams  has  truly  named  it,  'the  anchor  of 
apocalyptic  interpretation^''  and  I  may  add  the  touch- 
stone of  apocalyptic  systems."     Com.  vol.  iv.,  p.  249. 


PAGANISM.  125 

SECTION  n. 
PAGANISM. 

The  second  great  class  of  persecutions  waged 
against  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  was  that  of  Paganism. 
The  delineation  of  it  is  believed  to  have  been  made 
in  Rev.,  chapters  xii — xx. 

The  principal  characters  engaged  in  this  tragedy 
are  portrayed  with  wonderful  power.  First  there  ap- 
pears a  great  bloody-hued,  seven-headed  Dragon, 
horned  and  crowned,  whose  sinuous  tail  sweeps  over 
a  third  part  of  the  heavens,  dislodging  the  stars  from 
their  spheres.  That  there  may  be  no  doubt  as  to  who  is 
intended  by  it  we  are  told  that  it  represents  "  that  old 
serpent  called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  which  deceiveth 
the  whole  world."  He  is  the  prime  instigator  of  the 
persecution.  Next  there  arises  out  of  the  sea  a  hid- 
eous Beast,  of  monstrous  form,  armed  with  whatever 
is  terrible  of  horns  and  fangs  and  claws,  to  whom  the 
Dragon,  his  patron,  gives  "  power  and  a  throne  and 
great  authority."  He  is  the  symbol  of  a  king  clothed 
with  irresistible  might,  and  yielding  himself  to  be  the 
agent  and  instrument  of  Satan  in  the  bloody  work 
he  is  about  to  initiate.  An  enigmatical  designation, 
calculated  to  conceal  its  meaning  from  the  enemies  of 
the  Christians,  yet  of  easy  solution  by  "  him  that  hath 
understanding  "  of  the  cabbalistic  use  of  the  Hebrew 
numerals  shows  him  to  be  the  reigning  emperor, 
NERO-CjESAR.^     a  second  monster,  less  formid- 

*  See  an  account  of  the  Gematria  or  "  Science  of  figures,"   as 
used  by  the  Jewish  Rabbis,  in  Geikie's  Life  of  Christ,  vol.  1, 


126  THE  PAROUSIA. 

able  in  aspect  than  the  other,  but  endowed  with  in- 
fernal cunning  and  wonder-working  skill,  springs  out 
of  the  earth  and  joins  the  Dragon  and  the  Beast  in 
their  conspiracy  against  the  saints  of  God.  He  is  evi- 
dently the  symbol  of  the  Pagan  religion,  with  its 
splendid  array  of  priests  and  augurs  and  magical  rites 
with  which  the  established  cultus  of  the  empire  holds 
captive  the  minds  of  men. 

Well  may  we  shudder  at  such  a  trio  of  foes  arrayed 
against  the  church,  and  to  read  that  "  it  was  given  un- 
to him  (the  Beast)  to  make  war  with  the  saints  and 
to  overcome  them ;  and  power  was  given  him  over  all 
kindreds  and  tongues  and  nations.  And  all  that  dwell 
upon  the  earth  shall  worship  him,  whose  names  are 
not  written  in  the  book  of  life  of  the  Lamb  slain,  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world." 

That  the  Neronic  persecution  corresponded  in 
atrocity  to  the  fearful  array  here  described  needs  no 
proof  to  any  who  understand  the  history  of  those 
times.     Our  present  purpose  does  not  require  us  to 

pp.  256,  570.  "In  the  Book  of  Revelation  the  name  of  the  Beast 
is  veiled  from  common  eyes  by  the  mystical  number  666,  but 
the  reason  for  its  being  so  becomes  very  apparent  when  we  find 
that  it  is  a  cypher  for  the  letters  of  the  name  of  Nero."     Thus 

N         R        O        N         K         S         R 

50  +  200  +  6  -f-  50  +  100  -f  60  +  200  =  666. 
"Neron  Kesar  (Nero  the  Emperor),  was  apparently  the  name 
by  which  the  Christians  of  Asia  spoke  of  the  monster.  Thug 
the  coins  of  Asia  bore  the  legend,  NERON  KAISAR,  the  form 
of  the  mystic  number.  There  are  inscriptions  at  Palmyra  in 
which  Nero's  name  and  dignity  are  written  exactly  as  in  the 
cypher  in  the  Apocalypse. — De  Vogue's  Syrie  Centrale,  etc., 
1868,  pp.  17,  26." 


THE  BINDING  OF  SATAN.  127 

dwell  upon  it  at  length.  For  a  summary  view  the 
reader  is  referred  to  what  we  have  said  respecting  the 
"  Man  of  Sin,"  (ante,  p.  69)  and  to  the  note  upon 
that  passage  in  the  Appendix. 

The  next  six  chapters  of  the  Apocalypse  describe 
the  defeat  of  these  enemies,  and  the  punishment  of 
the  persecutors.  In  chapter  xvii  is  given  a  vision  of 
Rome  itself,  under  the  figure  of  a  scarlet-robed  harlot 
riding  upon  a  scarlet  colored  beast  covered  with  blas- 
phemous titles,  and  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyred  saints.  A  prophetic  dirge  laments  her 
hastening  downfall,  while  a  rejoicing  chorus  in  heaven 
exults  over  the  retribution,  and  the  approaching  mar- 
riage of  the  Lamb.  Then  appears  the  conquering 
Messiah,  the  Word  of  God,  followed  by  the  armies  of 
heaven,  while  the  Beast  and  his  allies  prepare  their 
final  assault  upon  him.  These  are  overcome  and  cap- 
tured, the  beasts  are  cast  into  hell,  and  all  their  hosts 
slain.  Then  the  Dragon  himself,  the  arch  instigator 
of  the  whole,  is  seized  and  bound  in  the  abyss,  and  a 
thousand  years  of  rest  for  the  church,  and  triumph  of 
the  martyrs  ensue. 

SECTION  m. 
THE  BINDr^fG  OF  SATAN. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  understand  by  the  binding  of 
Satan  for  a  thousand  years  ? 

It  has  been  commonly  assumed  that  it  means  that 
abolition  of  all  moral  evil  and  suffering,  which,  in  the 
last  age  of  the  world,  is  to  follow  the  final  triumph  of 
Christianity.     As  the  introduction  of  sin  and  its  woes 


128  THE  PAROUSIA. 

is  ascribed  to  him  as  the  original  tempter,  so,  not  un- 
naturally, his  confinement  in  chains  is  taken  to  sig- 
nify its  extinction,  and  the  restoration  of  paradise  to 
the  world.  Hence  the  word  millennium^  derived  from 
the  thousand  years  here  spoken  of,  has  come  to  be 
synonymous  with  that  blessed  age,  the  era  of  univer- 
sal holiness  and  happiness.  But  a  more  careful  ex- 
amination of  the  passage  in  its  connection  shows  that 
this  is  an  error. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  Satan  in  his  general 
character,  so  to  speak,  as  the  prince  of  all  evil,  that  is 
the  subject  of  the  prophetic  narrative ;  it  is  solely  in 
his  capacity  as  a  persecutor.  For  this  alone  is  he  in- 
troduced upon  the  scene  ;  it  is  to  symbolize  the  qual- 
ities of  a  persecutor  that  the  hideous  characteristics  of 
his  person  are  portrayed,  and  it  is  this  work  which 
throughout  the  sketch  he  is  represented  as  doing  by 
means  of  his  agents,  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet. 
Consistency,  therefore,  requires  that  the  confinement 
he  now  suffers  should  be  taken  in  the  same  special 
and  restricted  sense.* 

2.  There  is  nowhere  the  slightest  intimation  in  the 
scriptures  that  the  cessation  of  Pagan  persecution  was 

^  "Satan  thus  exerting  himself  by  the  power  of  the  heathen 
Koman  empire,  is  called  the  great  red  dragon  in  Scripture,  hav- 
ing seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  fighting  against  the  woman 
clothed  with  the  sun,  as  in  the  12th  of  Kevelation.  And  the  ter- 
rible conflict  there  was  between  the  church  of  Christ  and  the 
powers  of  the  heathen  empire  before  Constantine's  time  is  there, 
in  verse  7,  represented  by  the  war  betwen  Michael  and  his 
angels,  and  the  Dragon  and  his  angels." — Edwards'  Hist,  of  Re- 
demption, Period  III,  part  2. 


THE  BIN'DING  OF  SATAN.  129 

to  result  in  the  immediate  introduction  of  the  latter- 
day  glory.  There  is,  or  at  least  may  be,  a  long 
period  between  the  day  when  Christianity  became  too 
strong  to  be  successfully  assailed  from  without,  and  the 
day  of  its  universal  triumph, — a  period,  on  the  whole, 
of  prosperity,  of  growth,  of  great  activity  in  spreading 
the  gospel  among  men,  but  not  one  at  all  answering 
to  the  idea  of  perfection  and  rest  pertaining  to  her 
consummation  in  glory.  That  glory  is  described  in 
chapters  xxi  and  xxii — the  New  Jerusalem  established 
upon  the  new  earth,  in  which  the  Lord  God  and  the 
Lamb  are  to  reign  forever. 

3.  The  state  of  the  world  during  the  thousand  years 
of  the  binding  of  Satan  is  not  that  predicated  of  her 
latter-day  glory.  Even  at  the  close  of  that  period 
there  remain  nations  in  the  distant  parts  of  the  earth 
who  have  never  been  brought  into  subjection  to  Christ. 
Nor  are  these  merely  few  and  insignificant,  as  if  not 
worthy  to  be  taken  into  the  account ;  they  are  a  vast 
multitude,  "  whose  number  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea." 
But  if  any  one  thing  is  emphatic  in  the  description  of 
the  latter-day  glory,  it  is  that  of  its  absolute  univer- 
sality. "  He  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea,  and 
from  the  river  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth."  "  All 
kings  shall  fall  down  before  him ;  all  nations  shall 
serve  him  "  (Ps.  72 :  8,  11).  "  From  the  rising  of 
the  sun  even  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same,  my 
name  shall  be  great  among  the  Gentiles ;  and  in  every 
place  incense  shall  be  offered  unto  my  name,  and  a 
pure  offering,  for  my  name  shall  be  great  among  the 
heathen,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  "  (Mai.  1 :  11).  It  is 
7 


130  THE  PABOUSIA. 

absolutely  certain  that  such  a  state  of  things  as  that 
cannot  co-exist  with  the  still  unconverted  and  multi- 
tudinous nations  that  survive  the  period  here  desig- 
nated. 

4.  The  thousand  years  is  a  limited  period ;  that  of  the 
latter-day  glory  is  to  be  without  end.  Whether  those 
thousand  years  are,  as  we  believe,  to  be  understood 
literally,  or,  putting  a  day  for  a  year,  as  denoting 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand,  or,  more  generally 
still,  a  long  period  simply,  they  are  in  either  case  in- 
consistent with  the  duration  which  is  predicated  of 
the  final  glory.  The  proofs  of  that  perpetuity  will  be 
adduced  hereafter.  By  no  principle  of  interpretation 
can  we  make  the  two  identical  in  their  continuance. 

I  cannot  accept  then  the  common  view  that  the 
millennium  of  the  Apocalypse  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
ultimate  day  of  glory  and  rest  to  the  church.  In  en- 
deavoring to  show  affirmatively  what  it  does  signify, 
let  me  advert  once  more  to  the  marks  of  unity  which 
connect  this  passage  with  what  had  gone  before. 

Let  it  be  observed  that  all  the  personages  men- 
tioned here  are  the  same  that  had  figured  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters.  The  leading  character  is  still  the 
great  Dragon,  the  deceiver  of  the  nations,  who  by  his 
arts  persuaded  them  to  worship  the  Beast  and  to  unite 
in  warfare  against  the  church.  The  martyrs  again 
appear,  who  had  been  beheaded  for  the  witness  of 
Jesus,  and  who  had  not  worshiped  the  Beast  nor  his 
image,  neither  had  received  his  mark  upon  their  fore- 
heads. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  the  topic  and  the  persons  re- 


THE  BINDING  OF  SATAN.  131 

main  the  same,  there  is  an  incompleteness  of  thought 
in  the  antecedent  narrative  which  needs  supplementing 
here.  The  inspired  seer  had  described  the  defeat  and 
doom  of  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet,  with  all 
their  host.  But  what,  the  reader  instinctively  asks,  is 
to  become  of  him  who  instigated  all  that  mischief,  the 
greater  sinner  behind  all  whose  mere  tools  they  were  ? 
Is  he  to  escape  wdth  impunity  ?  It  will  be  but  slight 
consolation  to  the  churches,  then  bleeding  and  crushed 
in  his  cruel  toils,  to  know  that  Nero  shall  be  over- 
thrown, if  their  greater  enemy  be  still  at  liberty  to  fo- 
ment new  persecutions  and  harass  them  not  only 
without  mercy  but  without  end. 

And  this  I  take  to  be  the  significance  of  the  repre- 
sentation which  follows.  It  is  the  comforting  voice  of 
Him  for  whom  they  have  suffered,  responding  to  their 
cry  and  saying,  "  No,  he  shall  not  go  free  !  Not  only 
in  the  grand  consummation  is  he  to  be  utterly  de- 
stroyed, but  even  now  the  end  of  his  bloody  career 
draweth  nigh.  He  shall  be  arrested,  shorn  of  his 
power,  bound  in  chains,  and  shut  up  in  the  bottomless 
pit,  the  St.  Helena  of  the  universe,  for  one  thousand 
years,  while  the  martyred  victims  of  his  malice  shall 
arise  from  their  dishonor,  and  ascend  to  thrones  of 
special  dignity  and  glory,  as  favored  participants  in 
the  triumph  of  their  King." 

The  binding  of  Satan,  then,  I  cannot  doubt,  denotes 
the  cessation  of  Pagan  persecution  against  the  church. 
And  if  that  view  be  correct,  it  is  not  difficult  to  as- 
sign an  approximate  date  to  which  it  is  to  be  referred. 

In  the  year  A.  D.  324,  Constantine  the  Great,  by 


132  THE  PABOUSIA. 

the  defeat  of  Licinius,  the  emperor  of  the  East,  became 
sole  monarch  of  the  Roman  Empire.  He  had  many 
years  before  this  embraced  Christianity, — according 
to  Eusebius,  in  consequence  of  the  remarkable  vision 
he  had  seen  of  the  radiant  cross  in  the  sky  accompan- 
ied by  the  legend,  "  By  this  conquer."  As  early  as 
A.  D.  315,  he  had  persuaded  Licinius  to  joi  nhim  in  a 
general  edict  proclaiming  toleration  to  Christianity, 
an  edict,  however,  which  was  little  regarded  by  the 
eastern  king,  who  subsequently  relapsed  into  heathen- 
ism and  came  into  open  conflict  with  Constantine,^  in 
which  he  was  defeated  and  soon  after  put  to  death. 
Constantine,  now  attaining  the  sole  imperial  dignity, 
issued  a  new  proclamation  reaffirming  the  edict  of  tol- 
eration, and  exhorting  all  his  subjects  to  "  imitate 
without  delay  the  example  of  their  sovereign  and  to 
embrace  the  divine  truth  of  Christianity."  From  that 
time  this  edict  was  "  received  as  a  general  and  funda- 
mental law  of  the  Roman  world. ''^  ^ 

This  law  granted  a  free  and  absolute  power  to  all 
Christians  and  others  to  follow  that  religion  which 
they  preferred;  enacted  that  the  churches  and  lands 
which  had  been  confiscated  by  Diocletian  should  be 

^■"Tlie  Christians  formed  the  nucleus  of  Constantine's  party 
when  the  relation  between  him  and  Licinius  became  loose. 
Hence  for  this  very  reason,  Licinius  sought  to  obtain  a  more 
decided  party  by  renewed  attention  to  the  religion  of  the  pagans 
and  by  persecution  of  the  Christians.  Accordingly,  the  struggle 
that  arose  between  Licinius  and  Constantine,  A.  D.  323  was  at 
the  same  time  a  struggle  between  Christianity  and  heathenism . 
Licinius  was  defeated  and  Constantine  openly  professed  the 
Jhristian  faith,  though  he  still  put  off  baptism."     Guericke. 

^  Gibbon  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  XX. 


THE  BINDING  OF  SATAN.  133 

"  restored  without  dispute,  without  delay,  and  without 
expense ; "  and  established  numerous  regulations  to 
guard  the  tranquillity  of  his  Christian  subjects,  and 
secure  enlarged  and  equal  rights  of  conscience  to  all. 
Such  a  law,  enforced  by  the  authority  and  example  of 
an  illustrious  conquerer  and  sovereign,  changed  the 
religious  aspect  of  the  empire.  Paganism,  though  not 
absolutely  forbidden,  fell  into  disfavor ;  its  power  to 
injure  was  wrested  from  it,  its  imposing  worship  faded  ; 
in  many  cases  its  temples  were  despoiled  and  its  wealth 
bestowed  upon  the  church ;  and  to  crown  all,  a  new 
city  was  founded  on  the  beautiful  Bosphorus  which 
thenceforth  was  the  Christian  capital  of  the  empire 
and  of  the  world. 

This  remarkable  event  was  regarded  by  the 
Christians  of  that  time,  and  by  Constantine  himself, 
as  the  fulfillment  of  the  very  prophecy  before  us. 
Accordingly  not  only  was  the  well-known  Idbarum^ 
composed  of  the  first  two  letters  in  the  name  of  our 
Lord,  placed  upon  the  standards  of  the  army,  and 
impressed  upon  the  imperial  coins,  but  a  public  mon- 
ument was  set  up,  bearing  a  representation  of  the 
emperor,  with  the  cross  over  his  head,  and  under  his 
feet  Satan  in  the  form  of  a  serpent  falling  headlong 
into  the  abyss.  "For,"  says  Eusebius,  "the  sacred 
oracles  in  the  books  of  God's  prophets  have  de- 
scribed him  as  a  dragon  and  a  crooked  serpent ;  and 
for  this  reason  the  emperor  thus  publicly  displayed  a 
painted  resemblance  (cera  igne  resoluta)  of  the  dragon 
beneath  his  own  and  his  children's  feet,  stricken 
through  with  a  dart  and  cast  headlong  into  the  depths 


134  THE  PAROUSIA. 

of  the  sea.  In  this  manner  he  intended  to  represent 
that  concealed  adversary  of  the  human  race,  and  to 
indicate  that  he  was  consigned  to  the  gulf  of  perdi- 
tion by  virtue  of  the  trophy  of  salvation  placed  above 
his  head."'^ 

Perhaps  no  event  in  the  annals  of  history  was  ever 
more  memorable  than  this.  "  This  revolution,"  says 
Pres.  Edwards,  the  elder,  "was  the  greatest  revolu- 
tion and  change  in  the  face  of  things  that  ever  came 
to  pass  in  the  world  since  the  flood.  Satan,  the 
prince  of  darkness,  that  king  and  god  of  the  heathen 
world,  was  cast  out.  The  roaring  lion  was  conquered 
by  the  Lamb  of  God  in  the  strongest  dominion  that 
ever  he  had,  even  the  Roman  Empire."^  "  This  rising 
significance  of  the  cross,"  says  Schaff,  "  was  a  faithful 
symbol  of  the  extraordinary  change  in  the  empire. 
The  Grseco-Roman  heathenism  surrendered  after  a 
three  hundred  years'  struggle  to  Christianity,  and  died 
of  incurable  consumption.  The  ruler  of  the  civilized 
world  laid  his  crown  at  the  feet  of  the  crucified  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  The  successor  of  Nero,  Domitian,  and 
Diocletian,  who  had  done  their  best  to  exterminate 
the  pestilential  sect,  appeared  a  few  years  after  the 
last  and  most  bloody  persecution,  in  the  imperial  pur- 
ple at  the  council  at  Nice,  as  protector  of  this  very 
sect,  and  took  his  golden  throne  at  the  nod  of  bishops, 
many  of  whom  still  bore  the  scars  of  persecution. 
The  despised  religion  which  for  three  centuries,  like  its 
Founder  in  the  days  of  his  humiliation,  had  not  where 

»De  Yita  Const.  Lib.  1,  cap.  40. 

''Work  of  Redemption.    Period  III,  part  2. 


THE  BINDING  OF  SATAN.  135 

to  lay  his  head,  was  raised  to  sovereign  authority  in 
the  state ;  entered  into  the  prerogatives  of  the  pagan 
priesthood  ;  grew  rich  and  powerful ;  built  countless 
churches  and  altars  out  of  the  stones  of  idol  temples 
to  the  honor  of  Christ  and  his  martyrs ;  employed  the 
wisdom  of  Greece  and  Rome  to  vindicate  the  foolish- 
ness of  the  cross ;  exerted  a  molding  influence  upon 
civil  legislation ;  ruled  the  life  of  the  people,  and  be- 
gan to  control  the  general  course  of  civilization."* 

Such  seems  to  have  been  the  event  disclosed  to  the 
apostle  in  Patmos  under  the  symbol  of  the  binding  of 
Satan.  It  was  the  one  single  promise,  little  estimated 
by  us  who  live  in  these  late  days  of  prosperous  ease, 
but  which  to  the  martyrs  and  confessors,  companions 
of  John  in  "  tribulation  and  in  the  kingdom  and  pa- 
tience of  Jesus  Christ,"  was  pregnant  with  most  joy- 

^Bib.  Sac.  vol.  XX.  p.  788. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  do  more  than  enumerate  the  acts  of 
Constantine's  ecclesiastical  legislation  in  order  to  see  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  revolution  of  which  he  was  the  leader.  In  the  year 
after  his  conversion  was  issued  the  edict  of  toleration.  Then 
followed  in  rapid  succession,  the  decree  for  the  observance  of 
Sunday  in  the  towns  of  the  Empire,  the  use  of  prayers  for  the 
army,  the  abolition  of  the  punishment  of  crucifixion,  the  en- 
couragement of  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  the  discouragement 
of  infanticide,  the  prohibition  of  licentious  and  cruel  rites,  the 
prohibition  of  gladiatorial  games.  Every  one  of  these  steps 
was  a  gain  to  the  Roman  empire  and  to  mankind,  such  as  not 
even  the  Antonines  had  ventured  to  attempt,  and  of  those  bene- 
fits none  has  been  altogether  lost.  Undoubtedly,  if  Constantine 
is  to  be  judged  by  the  place  which  he  occupies  amongst  the 
benefactors  of  mankind,  he  would  rank  not  amongst  the  sec- 
ondary characters  of  history,  but  amongst  the  very  first." 
Stanley's  Eastern  Church,  p.  293. 


136  THE  PAROUSIA. 

ful  import,  that  pagan  persecution  should  soon  be 
ended.  The  bloody  dragon  who  was  preying  upon 
them  should  be  cast  down  from  his  throne.  The  very 
cross  itself,  the  detested  symbol  of  his  enmity,  should 
become  the  trophy  of  victory  over  him.  It  may  be 
objected  that  this  comes  far  short  of  our  ideas  as  to 
what  this  long  looked  for  thousand  years  was  to  be. 
True,  pagan  persecution  ceased,  and  yet  the  centuries 
which  followed  were  anything  but  an  era  of  prosperity 
to  the  church.  Ignorance,  superstition,  and  barbarism 
settled  like  a  pall  upon  the  nations,  marking  these  as 
the  Dark  Ages  of  the  world.  The  papacy  usurped 
secular  power,  and  took  up  in  its  turn  the  bloody 
weapons  of  persecution  which  had  fallen  from  heathen 
hands.  The  Bible  became  a  sealed  book  even  within 
the  church,  and  true  religion  fled  for  safety  to  moun- 
tain fastnesses  and  inaccessible  valleys.  Was  this, 
I  shall  be  asked,  with  contemptuous  surprise,  the 
millennium^  And  my  answer  must  still  be  in  the 
affirmative,^  reiterating  my   former  remark  that  the 

»See  Bush  on  the  Millennium,  in  which  nearly  the  same  view 
is  advocated  that  have  here  presented. 

"  We  are  disposed  to  think  that  the  period  in  question  is 
not  meant  to  be  literally  and  chronologically  one  thousand 
years.  The  number  is  put  indefinitely ;  it  points  to  a  time  when 
Christianity  had  triumphed  over  paganism.  Heathenism  had 
been  destroyed  in  the  Roman  empire.  This  leads  to  the  an- 
cient view,  viz.  :  that  the  period  is  past,  not  future.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  are  both  de- 
stroyed. Chapter  xx.  Now  the  Beast  cannot  mean  the  papacy, 
as  has  been  often  assumed.  It  refers  to  the  heathen  power 
which  was  opposed  to  Christ  and  his  religion.  Hence  the  mil- 
lennium began  after  the  abolition  of  paganism  in  the  Eoman 
empire."     Davidson,  Introd.     Yol,  8,  p.  630. 


GOG  AND  MAGOG.  137 

surprise  expressed  proceeds  from  a  wholly  wrong 
assumption  of  the  nature  of  the  period  in  question, 
confounding  it  with  that  era  of  universal  rest  and 
glory  which  is  to  follow  sooner  or  later  after  the  last 
great  persecution,  when  not  only  shall  Satan  be  bound 
in  chains,  but  when  he,  and  death,  and  Hades,  with 
all  enemies  of  the  now  triumphant  kingdom  of 
Christ,  shall  be  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
What  then  was  to  be  that  last  persecution  ? 

SECTION  IV. 
GOG  AND  MAGOG. 

The  thousand  years  have  expired,  and  Satan  is  loose 
again.  In  the  distant  regions  of  the  earth, — the  land 
of  Gog  and  Magog, — are  mighty  nations,  with  a  popu- 
lation innumerable  "  as  the  sand  of  the  sea."  These  he 
stirs  up  against  the  saints.  They  leave  their  barbarous 
homes,  invade  the  Christian  territory,  surround  its 
capital  and  the  beloved  city,  Jerusalem, — but  are 
destroyed  by  the  lightnings  of  heaven.  What  is  this 
but  a  graphic  description  of  the  rise,  the  conquests, 
and  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  the  Ottoman  Empire, 
the  great  monarchy  in  which  Mohammedanism,  the 
rival  religion  to  Christianity,  enthroned  itself  and 
undertook  the  conquest  of  the  world? 

Magog  was  the  second  son  of  Japheth  (Gen.  10  :  2), 
and  the  name  seems  to  have  been  borne  also  by  the  peo- 
ple descended  from  him.  He  and  his  brothers  are 
generally  regarded  as  having  settled  in  the  northern 
regions  of  Asia  beyond  the  Euxine  and  Caspian  seas, 
and  become   the   progenitors   of    the   various   tribes 


138  THE  PAROUSIA. 

bearing  the  general  designation  of  Scythians.  "  Jewish 
tradition,  as  preserved  by  Josephus  and  Jerome,  extend- 
ed the  name  (Magog)  to  all  the  nomad  tribes  beyond 
the  Caucasus  and  the  Palus  Mseotis,  and  from  the 
Caspian  sea  to  India,  thus  including  the  Tartar  and 
Mongolian  tribes,  as  well  as  those  more  properly 
belonging  to  the  Scythians."^  In  the  prophecies  of 
Ezekiel  are  recorded  a  series  of  denunciations  against 
this  people  in  which  Gog  appears  as  their  prince  or 
ruler,  and  Magog  as  the  designation  of  their  country. 
Ezek.  38 :  30. 

This  vast  region,  the  inexhaustible  hive  of  the  north- 
ern barbarians  who  from  time  immemorial  had  been 
the  terror  of  the  civilized  world,  was  the  original  source 
of  the  Turks,  who  began  to  figure  in  history  in  the 
sixth  century.  As  early  as  A..D.  545,  a  Turkish 
invasion  overspread  the  continent  from  the  Euxine 
sea  to  China,  but  their  power  lasted  only  about  two 
centuries.  From  time  to  time  they  appeared  again 
amid  the  commotions  of  the  East,  and  in  1206  they 
composed  a  part  of  the  empire  of  the  Great  Mogul, 
Zingis  Khan,  who  reduced  to  his  sway  nearly  all  Asia 
and  a  large  portion  of  Europe.  In  the  year  A.  D.  1299 
Athman  or  Othman,  one  of  their  chieftains,  invaded 
and  plundered  the  Christian  province  of  Nicomeda,  in 
Asia  Minor,  and  twenty-seven  years  later  obtained 
possession  of  its  capital,  the  beautiful  city  of  Prusa, 
now  Broosa.  The  lives  and  property  of  the  Christians 
were  ransomed  on  the  payment  of  thirty  thousand 
crowns  in  gold,  and  the  city  converted  into  a  Moham- 

»W.  L.  Alexander,  in  Kitto  Bib.  Cyc. 


GOG  AND  MAGOG,  139 

medan  capital.  "  From  the  conquest  of  Prusa,"  says 
Gibbon,  "  we  may  date  the  true  era  of  the  Ottoman 
Ijmpire.'^^  This  was  in  the  year  1326,  one  thousand 
and  two  years  from  the  promulgation  of  the  imperial 
edict  of  Constantine. 

It  is  difficult  at  this  day  for  any  who  are  not  thorough- 
ly familiar  with  the  history  of  the  East  to  understand 
what  the  Ottoman  Empire  was  in  its  relations  to 
Christianity.  Turkey  is  now,  emphatically,  "  the  sick 
man,"  holding  his  very  throne  by  the  sufferance  of 
Christian  nations.  But  three  centuries  ago  it  was 
something  very  different  from  this.  The  following 
description  taken  from  the  learned  history  of  Richard 
KnoUes,  published  in  1603,  at  the  time  when  that 
empire  was  in  the  hight  of  its  prosperity,  will  show 
how  it  was  regarded  at  that  time. 

"  There  stept  vp  among  the  Turkes  in  Bithynia  one 
Osman  or  Othoman,  of  the  Ozugian  tribe  or  familie, 
a  man  of  great  spirit  and  valor,  who  b}'  little  and  little 
growing  vp  amongst  the  rest  of  his  countrymen  and 
other  the  effeminate  Christians  on  that  side  of  Asia, 
at  last,  like  another  Romulus,  tooke  vpon  him  the 
name  of  a  Sultan  or  King,  and  is  right  worthily 
accounted  the  first  founder  of  the  mightie  empire  of 
the  Turkes,  which,  continued  by  many  descents  direct 
ly  in  the  line  of  himself  even  vnto  Achmet  who  now 
reigneth,  is  from  a  small  beginning  become  the  greatest 
terrour  of  the  worlde,  and  holding  in  subjection  many 
greate  and  mightie  kingdoms  in  Asia,  Europe,  and 
Africke,  is  grown  to  that  height  of  pride  as  that  it 

^  Decline  and  Fall,  cliap.  Ixiv. 


140  THE  PABOUSIA. 

threatneth  destruction  vnto  the  rest  of  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth,  laboring  with  nothing  more  than  the 
weight  of  itselfe.  In  the  greatnesse  whereof  is 
swallowed  vp  both  the  name  and  empire  of  the  Sara- 
sins,  the  glorious  empire  of  the  Greeks,  the  renowned 
kingdoms  of  Macedonia,  Peloponessus,  Epirus,  Bulga- 
ria, Servia,  Bosnia,  Armenia,  Cyprus,  Syria,  Egypt, 
Judea,  Tunes,  Algeirs,  Media,  Mesopotamia,  with  a 
great  part  of  Hungarie,  as  also  of  the  Persian  King- 
dom, and  all  those  churches  and  places  so  much  spoken 
of  in  holy  Scripture  (the  Romans  onely  excepted),  and 
in  brief,  so  much  of  Christendom  as  farre  exceedeth 
that  which  is  thereof  at  this  day  left.  So  that  at  this 
present,  if  you  consider  the  beginning,  progress,  and 
perpetual  felicitie  of  this  the  Othoman  Empire,  there 
is  in  this  world  nothing  more  admirable  or  strange  ;  if 
the  greatnesse  and  lustre  thereof,  nothing  more  magnifi- 
cent or  glorious ;  if  the  power  and  strength  thereof, 
nothing  more  dreadful  and  dangerous ;  which,  wonder- 
ing at  nothing  but  the  beauty  of  itself,  and  drunk  with 
the  pleasant  wine  of  perpetual  felicitie,  holdeth  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  in  scorne,  thundering  out  noth- 
ing but  still  bloud  and  warre,  with  a  full  perswasion 
in  time  to  rule  over  all,  prefining  vnto  itself  no  other 
limits  than  the  vttermost  bounds  of  the  earth,  from  the 
rising  of  the  sun  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same."  ^ 

The  same  writer,  at  the  close  of  his  history  of 
Othman,  speaks  of  him  as  the  founder  of  the  empire 
thus: 

"  Of  a  poore  lordship  he  left  a  great  kingdom,  hav- 

^■Geiierall  Historie  of  the  Turks.     Preface. 


GOG  ANB  MAGOG.  141 

ing  subdved  a  great  part  of  the  lesser  Asia,  and  is 
worthily  accounted  the  first  founder  of  the  Turks' 
great  kingdom  and  empire.  Of  him  the  Turkish 
kings  and  emperors  ever  since  have  been  called  the 
Othman  kings  and  emperours,  as  lineally  of  him  de- 
scended, and  the  Turks  themselves  Osmanidae^  as  the 
people  or  subjects  of  Othman  or  Osman,  for  so  he 
is  of  the  Turks  commonly  called."^ 

That  the  Turkish  empire  has  ever  been  hostile  to 
Christianity  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  facts  of  his- 
tory. In  1460,  under  Mahomet  II,  Constantinople 
was  captured  with  terrible  slaughter,  its  people  mur- 
dered or  sold  into  captivity,  its  churches  burned  or 
converted  into  mosks,  and  the  city  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian emperor  made  the  capital  of  Islam.  In  1517  the 
Holy  Land  was  overrun,  and  Jerusalem  itself,  "  the 
beloved  city,"  taken.  For  more  than  three  centuries 
it  has  maintained  its  sway  over  the  lands  where  the 
Saviour  and  his  apostles  taught  and  died,  and  has  ex- 
ercised a  pitiless  despotism  over  all  their  followers. 
The  market  places  of  her  cities  have  been  public  marts, 
where  Christians  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages  have 
been  sold  into  perpetual  slavery.  Confiscation,  op- 
pressive taxation,  and  open  robbery,  have  despoiled 
them  of  their  goods,  and  the  murder  of  an  unbelieving 
dog  has  been  esteemed  as  a  service  to  Allah  and  his 
Prophet.  It  is  only  within  the  present  generation, 
under  the  growing  influence  of  the  western  kingdoms, 
that  its  hostility  has  at  all  abated,  and  a  toleration 

"^  Id.  p.  177. 


142  THE  PAROUSIA. 

of  the  Christian  faith  has  been  reluctantly  conceded. 
And  now  as  we  write,  it  is  professedly  as  an  oppres- 
sor and  persecutor  of  Christians  that  it  has  apparently 
been  brought  to  the  last  extremity  by  Russia.  There 
are  undoubtedly  elements  of  worldly  ambition  lying 
underneath  the  contest,  but  even  this  ambition  points 
in  the  same  direction,  to  recover  from  the  grasp  of  the 
invader  that  city  which  was  founded  by  the  first 
Christian  emperor,  and  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years  was  the  capital,  or  one  of  the  capitals,  of  the 
Christian  world.^ 

Upon  the  destruction  of  this  third  great  persecuting 
power,  it  is  predicted  that  "  the  devil  that  deceived  " 
these  nations  shall  be  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone, where  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet  are  " — 
his  former  allies  in  enmity  to  Christ, — "  and  shall  be 
tormented  day  and  night  forever."     That  is,  bearing 

^  I  take  the  liberty  of  saying  here,  that  I  advance  the  foregoing 
theory  as  to  the  power  intended  under  the  mystic  names  of  Gog 
and  Magog,  with  very  great  diffidence,  ratlier  because  I  can  not 
find  any  considerable  weight  of  authority  for  it  among  the  com- 
mentators than  because  of  any  lack  of  self-evidencing  indicia 
in  the  theory  itself .  The  name  "Magog,"  so  certainly  belonging 
to  the  region  whence  the  Ottoman  Turks  originated ;  the  time  of 
their  introduction  upon  the  scene,  almost  an  exact  1000  years 
from  Constantine's  edict  suppressing  Roman  persecution;  their 
vast  numbers;  the  nature  of  their  conquests,  viz.  the  "breadth 
of  the  land,"  i.  e.  the  Christian  territory;  "the  camp  of  the 
saints,"  i.  e.  the  fortified  Christian  capitol;  and  "the  beloved 
city,"  Jerusalem — all  these  constitute  a  series  of  circumstantial 
coincidences  with  the  known  facts  too  remarkable  to  be  acci- 
dental. What  other  theory  can  be  named  embodying  so  many, 
and  those  not  fanciful  or  conjectural,  but  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  plain  testimony  of  history  ? 


THE  EESURBECTION  OF  THE  MARTYRS.      143 

in  mind  still  the  part  that  he  has  been  acting  hitherto, 
persecution  by  hostile  nations  against  Christianity 
shall  forever  cease.  That  we  are  drawing  near  to 
that  period  seems  very  probable.  The  persecuting 
empire  of  Mohammed  is  already  in  its  dotage,  and 
any  serious  attempts  to  renew  its  ancient  assaults  on 
Christianity  would  infallibly  lead  to  its  prompt  ex- 
tinction as  by  "  a  fire  from  God  out  of  heaven."  The 
Christian  nations  have  become  the  mightiest  in  the 
world.  No  anti-christian  power,  Pagan,  Buddhistic,  or 
Mohammedan  could  withstand  their  united  forces  for 
a  day.  On  the  other  hand  Christianity  has  become 
itself  the  aggressor,  and  with  weapons  not  carnal,  the 
Bible  and  the  appliances  of  Christian  civilization,  is 
going  forth  on  its  career  of  conquest  which,  according 
to  all  present  appearances,  must  in  a  few  centuries,  not 
to  say  a  few  years,  embrace  the  whole  family  of  man. 

SECTION  V. 
THE  RESTJERECTION  OF  THE  MAKTYBS. 

During  the  thousand  years  of  the  binding  of  Satan, 
there  should  take  place  what  is  described  by  the  Seer 
as  follows : 

"  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and 
judgment  was  given  unto  them ;  and  I  saw  the  souls  of 
them  that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus,  and 
for  the  word  of  God,  and  which  had  not  worshiped 
the  beast,  neither  his  image,  neither  had  received  his 
mark  upon  their  foreheads,  or  in  their  hands ;  and 
they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years. 


144  THE  PAROUSIA, 

But  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  the 
thousand  years  were  finished.  This  is  the  first  resur- 
rection. Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the 
first  resurrection :  on  such  the  second  death  hath  no 
power,  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of  Christ 
and  shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand  years." 

The  first  statement  in  this  passage  is  of  the  most 
general  character.  It  is  as  if  the  apostle  had  at  first 
but  a  glimpse  of  a  scene  which  he  did  not  understand. 
He  saw  thrones,  persons  sitting  upon  them,  and  judicial 
or  royal  (for  ruling  and  judging  are  synonymous) 
dignity  given  to  them.  Then,  as  if  a  clearer  view  was 
afforded  him,  or  an  explanation  added,  he  expands  that 
outline  statement  into  the  fuller  one  succeeding.  This 
being  the  case,  we  may  understand  the  connective  "and" 
in  the  sense  of  "  even  " — "  to  wit."  The  same  well 
known  usage  of  the  Greek  conjunction  appears  again 
near  the  close  of  the  verse. 

The  persons  here  referred  to  are  the  martyrs  of  the 
preceding  period  of  persecution,  viz.,  those  who  had 
been  "  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus  and  for  the 
word  of  God."  The  remaining  language  probably 
includes  also  the  others  who  had  been  equally  faithful 
in  refusing  obedience  to  the  Beast  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives,  though  they  were  not  actually  put  to  death. 
These — the  martyrs  and  confessors — and  no  others  are 
the  subject  of  the  passage.  The  assumption  which  is 
often  made  that  all  the  pious  dead  are  included,  is 
entirely  without  warrant  from  the  passage  itself,  and 
tends  to  involve  the  whole  in  inextricable  confusion. 

These  "  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand 


TBE  BESUBBECTION  OF  THE  MABTYES.      145 

years."  Various  opinions  have  been  advanced  as  to 
the  nature  of  this  resurrection.  1.  Some  understand 
it  literally  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body ;  the  martyrs, 
as  the  reward  of  their  constancy,  being  raised  to  glory 
a  thousand  years  before  the  general  resurrection. 
Millenarians  generally  add  to  this  the  idea  that  this 
first  resurrection  extends  to  all  the  righteous  dead,  and 
that  the  place  of  their  reigning  is  to  be  here  on  earth. 
But  I  see  no  ground  for  either  of  these  beliefs,  either 
in  the  language  before  us  or  in  the  eschatological 
teachings  of  the  Scriptures  in  general.  2.  Whitby 
and  other  post  millenarians  regard  this  not  as  a  resur- 
rection of  i\iQ  persons  of  the  martyrs,  but  of  their  prin- 
ciples and  spirit.  "  It  may,"  says  Archbishop  Whately, 
"  signify  not  the  literal  raising  of  dead  men,  but  the 
raising  up  of  an  increased  Christian  zeal  and  holiness : 
the  revival  in  the  Christian  church,  or  in  some  consider- 
able portion  of  it,  of  the  spirit  and  energy  of  the  noble 
martyrs  of  old  (even  as  John  the  Baptist  came  in  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elias)  ;  so  that  Christian  principles 
shall  be  displayed  in  action  throughout  the  world  in 
an  infinitely  greater  degree  than  ever  before."  *  This 
theory  seems  to  me  more  inadmissable  than  the  former. 
The  bare  reading  of  the  passage  suggests  its  inadequacy, 
and  almosts  compels  the  inference  that  it  was  resorted 
to,  not  because  it  was  the  natural  and  obvious  import 
of  the  text,  but  because  it  was  the  most  plausible  way 
out  of  the  difficulties  caused  by  the  many  erroneous 
assumptions  made  as  to  the  general  scope  and  design 
of  the  book.     Most  undeniably,  the  reward  vouchsafed 

a  Essays  on  the  Future  State. 


146  THE  PAROUSIA. 

to  those  martyrs  and  confessors  was  something  personal 
to  them,  which  made  them  "  blessed  and  holy  "  in  an 
eminent  degree. 

That  reward  lies  upon  the  face  of  the  passage,  and 
so  plainly  that  I  marvel  it  could  ever  be  mistaken. 
Judicial  dignity  was  given  to  them  ;  they  reigned  with 
Christ. 

They  livedo  that  is,  they  reigned.  We  take  the  two 
words  here  as  synonymous,  the  and  being  the  kai  epexi- 
getical  or  explanatory,  so  well-known  to  commentators.* 
It  is  a  use  of  the  word  often  occurring  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Robinson  instances  Matt.  21 :  5 — "  an  ass, 
that  is,  a  colt."  1  Cor.  15  :  24 ;  James  1 :  27  ;  3  :  9, 
"  God,  that  is,  the  Father."  Matt.  13;  41.  "  Things 
that  offend,  that  is,  them  which  do  iniquity."  Rom. 
1:  5.     "Grace,  that  is,  the  apostleship,"  etc. 

The  word  live  often  has  the  signification  to  be 
blessed,  i.  e.  to  live  emphatically,  to  have  life  in  an  in- 
tensified degree.  Rom.  10 :  5 ;  Gal.  3 :  12.  "  He  that 
doeth  these  things  shall  live  in  them."  1  Thess.  3 :  8. 
"  Now  we  live  if  ye  stand  fast."  Luke  10  :  28.  "  This 
do,  and  thou  shalt  live.''  Heb.  12 :  9.  "  Shall  we 
not  be  in  subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits  and 
livef  The  idea,  then  is,  that  these  faithful  witnesses 
for  Christ,  whom  their  enemies  supposed  they  had  ut- 
terly destroyed,  still  lived,  i.  e.  they  were  exalted  to 
a  high  state  of  felicity.  Then,  as  if  to  be  more  ex- 
plicit, it  is  added,  "  They  reigned  with  Christ."  In 
other  words,  their  living  consisted  in  the  honor  of  par- 

«^  Winer's  N.  T.  Grammar,  p.  458. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  MARTYRS.      147 

ticipating  in  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  with 
Christ  the  king. 

This  is  something  more  than  "entering  the  king- 
dom," "seeing  the  kingdom,"  "inheriting  the  king- 
dom," etc.,  which  is  promised  to  all  believers.  Every 
loyal  subject  of  a  monarch  may  share  in  the  happiness 
flowing  from  his  reign,  its  peace,  prosperity,  security, 
and  glory.  But  not  all  are  elevated  to  princely  rank 
in  it,  and  made  participants  in  the  government  itself. 
This  special  honor  is  reserved  in  Christ's  kingdom  for 
the  martyrs  and  confessors  who  had  been  faithful  unto 
death.  In  our  loose  way  of  quoting  the  Scriptures, 
we  have  become  habituated  to  cite  these  extraordinary 
promises  as  if  pertaining  to  all  Christ's  people.  We 
doubt,  however,  if  an  instance  can  be  found  in  which 
this  dignity  of  kingship  in  heaven  is  not  predicated 
solely  of  those  who,  like  their  Master,  reach  it  by  the 
way  of  suffering  and  death  for  his  sake.  "  Inter  feras^ 
per  erucem,  ad  coronam.^^  • 

This  peculiar  reward  of  the  martyrs  is  often  men- 
tioned elsewhere.  When  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee 
petitioned  for  princely  thrones  on  either  hand  of 
Christ  in  his  kingdom,  his  reply  was,  "  Ye  know  not 
what  ye  ask  ?  Are  ye  able  to  drink  of  my  cup  and 
share  in  my  baptism  ?*  You  are  aspiring  to  the  re- 
served honors  of  those  who  suffer  as  I  am  to  suffer ; 
who  for  my  sake  go  to  the  cross  and  the  bloody  tomb. 
To  ask  for  the  former  is  to  ask  for  the  latter  also." 
Said  Peter  at  another  time,  "  We  have  forsaken  all 
and  followed  thee ;  what  shall  we  have  therefore  ?  " 

a  Matt.  20:22. 


148  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Jesus'  reply  was  "  Ye  which  have  followed  me," — and 
the  connection  shows  that  he  meant  it  in  the  same 
sense  of  self-denial  and  suffering, — "in  the  regenera- 
tion, when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in  the  throne  of 
his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judg- 
ing the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  Matt.  19:  27-29. 
In  Rom.  8:  16,  17,  the  two  grades  of  heavenly  bless- 
edness for  the  two  classes  of  the  saints  are  distinctly 
specified.  "  The  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  our 
spirit  that  we  (all  Christians)  are  the  children  of  God. 
And  if  children  heirs,  heirs  of  God — and  joint  heirs 
with  Christ  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  him,  that  we 
(Christ  and  his  martyrs)  may  be  also  glorified  togeth- 
gr."  So  Peter,  "Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  con- 
cerning the  fiery  trial  which  is  to  try  you — but 
rejoice  inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ings, that  when  his  glory  shall  be  revealed,  ye  may  be 
glad  also  with  exceeding  joy."  (1  Pet.  1 ;  12,  13.) 
Accordingly,  it  passed  into  a  saying  Qoyo^')  among 
the  early  Christians,  which  Paul  emphatically  declared 
to  be  a  true  one,  "  If  we  be  dead  with  him  we  shall 
also  live  with  him ;  if  we  suffer  we  shall  also  reign 
with  him."  2  Tim.  2:  12.  In  Revelation  1 :  5,  6,  John 
ascribes  praise  to  Jesus  Christ  "  who  is  the  faithful 
witness  (Gr.  Martyr)  the  First  begotten  of  the  dead, 
— who  loved  us — and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests 
unto  God  and  his  Father."  He  is  addressing  his 
"  companions  in  tribulation  and  in  the  kingdom  and 
patience  of  Jesus  Christ."  And  to  those  among  the 
churches  who  were  faithful  in  that  time  of  persecu- 
tion, Christ  sent  the  special  promises,    "  He  that  over- 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  MARTYRS.      149 

Cometh  and  keepeth  my  works  unto  the  end,  to  him 
will  I  give  power  over  the  nations,  and  he  shall  rule 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron ;  as  the  vessels  of  a  potter 
shall  they  be  broken  to  shivers,  even  as  I  received  of 
my  Father," — i.  e.  he  shall  share  in  my  royal  authori- 
ty, as  predicted  in  the  second  Psalm.  "  To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne, 
even  as  I  also  overcame  and  am  set  down  with  my 
Father  in  his  throne."     Rev.  2  :  26,  27 ;  3  :  21. 

This  reigning  with  Christ  shall  continue  a  "thous- 
and years,"  evidently  the  same  thousand  as  that  of 
Satan's  confinement.^  Not  that  it  shall  then  termi- 
nate, but  that  period  is  mentioned  in  order  that  the 
two  may  stand  in  contrast  with'  each  other.  As  dur- 
ing the  mart3^r  age  Satan  was  reigning  in  the  Beast 
and  False  Prophet,  and  the  saints  were  humiliated  and 
oppressed,  so  now  for  a  thousand  years  he  shall  be 
humiliated  and  they  shall  reign.  This  reigning  was 
the  "judgment  that  was  given  to  them,"  and  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  words  of  Paul  in  1  Cor.  6  :  3,  "Know 
ye  not  that  we  shall  judge  angels  ?  "  It  is  undoubt- 
edly a  figure  taken  from  the  triumphal  honors  decreed 
to  illustrious  conquerors  and  their  generals,  in  which 
their  vanquished  foes  were  shown  in  dungeons  or 
dragged  in  chains  behind  their  victors. 

a  "The  identity  of  this  period  of  a  thousand  years  with  that  of 
vs.  2,  3,  which  was  unaccountably  denied  by  Bengel,  if  it  might 
otherwise  be  a  matter  of  doubt  and  were  not  determinately 
fixed  by  the  whole  context,  at  all  events  is  established  by  verse 
7,  where  the  thousand  years  cannot  be  conceived  different  from 
those  in  verse  3,  and  as  little  from  those  in  the  immediately 
preceding  verses  in  vs.  4-6."     Hengstenberg,  vol.  II,  p.  337,  note. 


150  THE  PAR0U8IA. 

"  This  is  the  first  resurrection."  Not  of  the  body, 
for  there  is  not  a  word  said  of  this,  and  historically, 
we  know  that  nothing  of  the  sort  took  place  at  any 
time  within  the  period  referred  to.  The  persons  whom 
John  saw  were  the  souls  of  the  martyrs,  and  it  was 
these  that  lived  and  reigned.  The  word  anastasis 
does  not,  of  itself,  imply  a  corporeal  resurrection ;  its 
literal  meaning,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  is  the  sec- 
ond or  future  life.  The  place  where  they  lived  and 
reigned  was  "  with  Christ " — i.  g.,  in  heaven,  not  on 
earth.  The  meaning  is.  This  is  the  peculiarly  glorious 
and  blessed  after-life^  succeeding  the  murderous  blow 
of  the  Roman  executioner,  which  shall  be  enjoyed  by 
those  who  remained  faithful  till  death. 

It  is  called  the  first  resurrection,  not  in  point  of 
time^  but  of  rank  and  honor.  This  use  of  the  Greek 
word  is  very  common.  It  is  translated  chief  in  Matt. 
20  :  27  ;  Mark  6  :  21 ;  10 :  44  ;  Luke  19 :  47  ;  Acts 
13  :  50  ;  16  :  12  ;  25  :  2 ;  28  :  7,  17  ;  1  Tim.  1 :  15  ; 
etc.     In  Luke  15  :  22,  it  is  the  best. 

Hence  in  the  original  this  resurrection  is  denoted 
by  a  phraseology  differing  from  that  which  is  applied 
to  the  resurrection  of  mankind  in  general.  It  is  lost 
sight  of  in  our  English  version,  but  it  is  a  peculiarity 
of  too  much  importance  to  be  rightfully  disregarded. 
The  latter  is  usually  styled  simply  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead ;  that  of  Christ,  and  his  martyrs  the  resur- 
rection/row OT  from  out  of  the  dead.  So  in  the  Vul- 
gate, the  resurrectio  a  or  ex  mortuls  is  distinguished 
from  the  resurrectio  mortuorum.  See  Rom.  8 :  11 ; 
10:  7;  Eph.  1:  20;    Heb.  13 :  20;    1  Pet.  1 :  3,21. 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  MARTYRS.      151 

It  implies  that  out  of  the  whole  number  of  the  depart- 
ed there  shall  be  those  who  attain  a  peculiar  honor, 
one  which  they  do  not  share  in  common  with  the  rest. 

Being  thus  the  most  exalted  state  of  future  reward, 
it  became  the  object  of  intensest  desire  on  the  part  of 
persecuted  saints.  It  was  this,  Paul  says,  which  ani- 
mated the  martyrs  of  the  former  dispensation.  They 
were  "  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance  that  they 
might  obtain  a  better  resurrection."  Heb.  11  :  35. 
Even  for  himself  he  declared  that  he  made  it  the  ob- 
ject of  his  most  strenuous  eifort,  "  to  know  Christ  and 
.the  power  of  his  resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  his 
sufferings^  being  made  conformable  to  his  death,  if  by 
any  means  he  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead "  (Gr.  "the  resurrection  which  is  from 
among  the  dead)."  "  Not,"  he  adds,  "  as  though  I 
had  already  attained,  either  were  already  perfect," — 
he  had  not  yet  won  the  martyr's  crown  by  his  death, — 
*'  but  I  follow  after  if  that  I  may  apprehend — pressing 
toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of 
God  in  Christ  Jesus."     Phil.  3  :  10-14. 

It  was  the  same  inspiring  hope  that  actuated  the 
Christians  of  the  succeeding  centuries,  and  led  them 
to  seek  the  bloody  crown  of  martyrdom,  the  pledge  of 
the  crown  of  victory  above.  "  I  beseech  you,"  wrote 
Irenseus  to  his  friends,  "that  you  show  not  an  un- 
seasonable good  will  towards  me.  Suffer  me  to  be 
food  for  the  wild  beasts,  by  whom  I  shall  attain  unto 
God.  For  I  am  the  wheat  of  God,  and  I  shall  be 
ground- by  the  teeth  of  the  wild  beasts,  that  I  may  be 


152  THE  PAROUSIA. 

found  the  pure  bread  of  Christ."^  Such  as  attained 
this  coveted  honor  were  distinguished  in  painting  by  the 
aureole  surrounding  their  heads,  in  token  of  the  celes- 
tial crown  which  they  had  won.  "  It  was  conceived," 
says  Mosheim,''  "  that  they  were  taken  directly  up  into 
heaven  and  admitted  to  a  share  in  the  divine  counsels 
and  administration ;  that  they  sat  as  judges  with  God, 
enjoying  the  highest  marks  of  his  favor,  and  possess- 
ing influence  sufficient  to  obtain  from  him  whatever 
they  might  make  the  object  of  their  prayers."  To  the 
same  effect  testifies  the  sneering  Gibbon."^  "  It  is  not 
easy  to  extract  any  distinct  ideas  from  the  vague 
though  eloquent  declarations  of  the  Fathers,  or  to  as- 
certain the  degree  of  immortal  glory  and  happiness 
which  they  so  confidently  promised  to  those  who  were 
so  fortunate  as  to  shed  their  blood  in  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion. They  inculcated  with  becoming  diligence  that 
the  fire  of  martyrdom  supplied  every  defect  and  ex- 
piated every  sin ;  that  while  the  souls  of  ordinary 
Christians  were  obliged  to  pass  through  a  slow  and 
painful  purification,  the  triumphant  sufferers  entered 
into  the  immediate  fruition  of  eternal  bliss,  where  in 
the  society  of  the  patriarchs,  the  apostles,  and  the 
prophets  they  reigned  with  Christ  and  acted  as  his  as- 
sessors in  the  universal  judgment  of  mankind.""^     It  is 

»Epist.  ad  Komanos. 

^Com.  vol.  I,  p.  136. 

c  Chap.  XYI. 

^  "  Certatim  gloriosa  in  certamina  ruebantur,  multique  avid- 
ius  turn  martyria  gloriosis  mortibus  quaerebantur  quam  nunc 
episcopatus  pi  avis  ambitionibus  appetuntur."  Sulp.  Severus 
1:  11. 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  DEAD.  153 

true  that  not  a  few  ideas  savoring  of  superstition  and 
extravagance  came  to  be  attached  to  the  boon  of  mar- 
tyrdom, yet  they  grew  out  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures  already  referred  to,  and  show  the  interpre- 
tation which  in  that  age  was  given  to  passages  re- 
garded in  modern  times  as  obscure. 

SECTION  VI. 
THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  DEAD. 

The  last  five  verses  of  this  chapter  are  almost  uni- 
versally assumed  to  be  a  description  of  the  General 
Judgment,  at  which  the  whole  family  of  man  will  be 
judged,  at  the  end  of  time.  A  careful  study  of  the 
passage,  however,  in  its  connection,  will  disclose  rea- 
sons for  doubt  as  to  whether  that  is  its  true  import. 
Some  very  able  scholars  have  taken  a  different  view 
of  it.^ 

1.  In  the  first  place,  such  an  understanding  of  it 
impairs  the  uniti/  of  the  narration.  It  can  scarcely 
be  denied  that  these  verses  are  closely  connected  with 
the  preceding,  and  therefore  with  all  that  portion 
of  the  book  beginning  with  Chapter  XII.  If  so, 
then  we  are  to  presume  that  they  relate  to  the  same 
general  subject,  viz  :  the  overthrow  and  punishment  of 
the  persecutors  of  the  church.     It  was  not  within  the 

"Grotius  regards  it  as  describing  "the  punishment  of  some 
antecedent  to  the  General  Judgment,  as  the  glory  of  the  mar- 
tyrs precedes  also  that  judgment" — quorundam  ergo  poena 
judicium  illud  ultimum  antecedet,  sicut  martyrum  gloria  ante- 
cedet  idem  judicium. — He  applies  the  happy  New  Jerusalem 
state  which  follows  to  the  flourishing  period  of  the  church  be- 
tween Constantine  and  Justinian. 
8 


154  THE  FAB 0 U8IA. 

design  of  the  author  here  to  discuss  the  condition  or 
character  of  the  human  family,  as  such.  Why,  then, 
should  the  course  of  the  prophecy  be  interrupted  or 
turned  aside  to  set  forth  the  ultimate  destinies  of  the 
race  ?  Not  that  the  doctrine  of  a  General  Judgment 
ib  not  true,  but  simply  it  was  not  relevant  to  the  matter 
here  "  ^  hand.  As  in  so  many  cases,  it  is  the  costume 
and  phraseology  employed  and  not  its  position  or  rela- 
tions in  the  discourse  that  has  led  to  its  being  referred 
to  so  different  a  topic.^  But  for  these,  it  may  safely  be 
said  such  a  reference  would  never  have  been  made. 
We  have  already  seen  how  indispensable  it  is  in  pro- 
phetic interpretation  that  we  keep  clearly  in  mind  the 
sources  of  the  imagery  employed,  and  the  understand- 
ing they  would  have  of  it  to  whom  its  constant 
recurrence  in  their  own  Scriptures  made  it  familiar. 

2.  The  source  of  that  imagery  is  plainly  in  Daniel 
7  :  9-11.  Indeed  the  very  great  similarity  between 
that  entire  chapter  of  the  earlier  prophecy  and  this 
part  of  the  Apocalypse  is  recognized  by  all  commen- 
tators. There,  too,  was  a  hideous  persecuting  wild 
Beast,  the  prototype,  with  variations,  of  the  Beasts  of 
Revelation,  who  made  war  with  the  saints  and  pre- 
vailed against  them,  until  he  was  arrested  by  the 
avenging  interposition  of  heaven.     There,  too,  was  a 

a  "An  unseasonable  comparison  of  Matt.  25 :  31,  et  seq,  where 
we  find  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  united  in  one  scene  of 
judgment,  and  where  the  due  distinction  was  not  made  between 
the  substance  and  the  dramatic  form,  has  here  been  productive 
of  much  confusion,  and  has  led  to  the  dead  being  generally 
viewed  as  all  the  dead  without  exception."  Hengstenberg 
Apoc.  vol.  ii,  p.  376. 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  DEAD. 


155 


judgment  scene  exhibited  not  less  majestic  or  sublime 
than  the  one  before  us.  Let  the  two  be  placed  side 
by  side,  that  the  striking  resemblances  between  them 
may  be  the  more  apparent. 


DANIEL  7:9-11. 

I  beheld  till  the  thrones  were 
cast  down,  and  the  Ancient  of 
days  did  sit,  whose  garment  was 
white  as  snow,  and  the  hair  of  his 
head  like  the  pure  wool:  his 
throne  was  like  the  fiery  flame, 
and  his  wheels  as  burning  fire. 
A  fiery  stream  issued  and  came 
forth  from  before  him :  thousand 
thousands  ministered  unto  him, 
and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thous- 
and stood  before  him:  the  judg- 
ment was  set,  and  the  books  were 
opened.  I  beheld  then  because 
of  the  voice  of  the  great  words 
which  the  horn  spake :  I  beheld 
even  till  the  beast  was  slain,  and 
his  body  destroy^,  and  given  to 
the  burning  flame. 


REVELATIONS  20:  11-15. 

And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne , 
and  him  that  sat  on  it,  from  whose 
face  the  earth  and  the  heaven  fled 
away;  and  there  was  found  no 
place  for  them.  And  I  saw  the 
dead,  small  and  great,  stand  be- 
fore God;  and  the  books  were 
opened:  and  another  book  was 
opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life; 
and  the  dead  were  judged  out  or 
those  things  which  were  written 
in  the  books,  according  to  their 
works.  And  the  sea  gave  up  the 
dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death 
and  hell  delivered  up  the  dead 
which  were  in  them:  and  they 
were  judged  every  man  according 
to  their  works.  And  death  and 
hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
This  is  the  second  death.  And 
whosoever  was  not  found  written 
in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into 
the  lake  of  fire. 

In  each  of  these  cases  we  have  the  throne  and  One 
sitting  upon  it  in  resplendent  majesty,  the  vast  multi- 
tudes standing  before  it,  the  opened  books  of  remem- 
brance, the  judgment,  and  the  casting  of  the  condemned 
into  retributive  fire.  Now  we  know,  because  the 
interpreting  angel  positively  assures  us  of  it,  that 
the  first  refers  to  the  destruction  of  Daniel's  Fourth 
Beast,  in  other  words,  to  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the 
great  Syrian  persecutor  of  the  Jews,  the  prototype  of 
Nero  and  the  persecuting  emperors  of  the  Christians 
at  Rome.  Why  should  not  the  second  have  a  like 
application  to  the  latter  ?  What  else  could  they  of  the 
Seven  churches,  mostly  Jewish  in  birth  and  education, 
and  familiar  from  their  childhood  with  the  prophetic 
imagery  of  their  Scriptures,  understand  by  it? 


156  THE  PABOUSIA. 

3.  The  judgment  here  described  is  a  judgment  of 
the  dead  only ;  the  General  Judgment  is  to  embrace 
both  ''Hhe  quick  and  the  dead.''''  Acts  10 :  42 ;  2  Tim. 
4  :  1 ;  1  Peter  4 :  5.  The  latter  is  to  be  preceded  by 
the  instantaneous  change  of  the  living  into  the 
immortal  state  (1  Cor.  15  :  51 ;  1  Thess.  4 ;  17  ;  Phil. 
3 :  21),  and  by  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  John  5  : 
28,  29.  But  nothing  of  this  kind  is  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  judgment  before  us.  It  is  not  the 
living  nor  the  risen  that  are  judged,  but  those  who  are 
dead.  Four  times  is  that  term  applied  to  them,  as  if 
to  emphasize  the  fact,  and  distinguish  this  from  that 
yet  more  comprehensive  scene  when  the  entire  race  of 
man  are  to  receive  their  trial  and  award. 

What,  then,  is  the  import  of  the  passage  ? 

As  already  remarked,  I  regard  it  as  an  integral  part 
of  the  prophecy  relating  the  overthrow  and  punishment 
of  the  persecutors  of  the  church.  The  key  to  it  is 
found  in  the  fifth  verse  of  the  chapter.  "But  the 
rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  the  thousand  years 
were  finished."  We  had  been  told  the  doom  of  the 
Beast  and  his  allies,  and  the  humiliation  and  binding  of 
the  Dragon  whose  servants  they  were.  Next,  we  were 
shown  the  glorious  reward  of  the  martyrs  and  those 
who  had  proved  faithful  in  this  hour  of  great  trial, — 
the  blessed  resurrection,  the  thrones,  and  the  crowns 
to  which  they  had  attained.  But  what  of  "the  rest  of 
the  dead  " — viz.  those  who  did  worship  the  beast,  and 
did  join  the  deceived  nations  in  their  attack  upon 
Christianity  ? 

This  clause  of  the  fifth  verse  is  evidently  a  paren- 


THE  JUDGMENT  OF  TEE  DEAD.  157 

thesis  interposed  in  the  description  of  the  martyrs, 
for  the  momentary  purpose  of  contrasting  their  state 
with  that  of  the  others.  The  narration  goes  immedi- 
ately on,  finishing  that  description,  recounting  the 
irruption  and  overthrow  of  Gog  and  Magog,  and  then 
taking  up  the  subject  so  briefly  hinted  at  and  setting 
forth  the  doom  of  "  the  rest." 

These,  it  is  said,  "lived  not  [again]  until  the 
thousand  years  were  finished."  The  word  "  again  "  is 
without  authority  and  should  be  omitted.  Not  that 
they  were  not  in  existence  all  this  time,  but  that  they 
did  not  have  the  blessed  resurrection-life  attained  by 
the  martyrs.  Nor  is  it  meant  that  they  did  so  live 
after  the  completion  of  the  thousand  years.  The  des- 
ignation of  a  time  before  which  a  thing  was  not  done, 
does  not  of  itself  imply  that  it  was  done  after  that 
time.  Instances  of  this  mode  of  speech  are  very 
common  in  the  Scriptures.  1  Sam.  15 :  35,  "  Samuel 
came  no  more  until  the  day  of  his  death."  Isa.  42 :  4, 
"  He  shall  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged  till  he  have  set 
judgment  in  the  earth."  Matt.  5:  18,  "Tz7Z  heaven 
and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law."  Rom.  5 :  13,  "  Until  the  law,  sin 
was  in  the  world."  Matt.  1 :  25,  "And  knew  her  not, 
till  she  had  brought  forth  her  first  born  son."  * 

This   then  was   the  judgment  of  the  dead, — those 

*"Helvidius  abused  greatly  those  words  of  St.  Matthew  (1: 
25)  '  He  knew  her  not  until  she  had  brought  forth  her  first  born 
son,'  thereby  gathering  against  tlie  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
that  a  thing  denied  with  special  circumstances  doth  import  an 
opposite  affirmative,  when  once  that  circumstance  is  expired,^* 
Hooker  V.  45,  2,  quoted  in  Wordsworth  Apoc.  p.  67. 


158  THE  PARQUSIA. 

who  had  been  concerned  in  the  persecutions  of  the 
church  either  as  partisans  or  the  victims  of  Satan. 
They  are  called  "  the  dead  "  par  eminence,  to  distin- 
guish them  from  the  martyrs  who  "  lived  "  par  emi- 
nence. The  universality  of  the  judgment  corresponds 
to  the  universal  dominion  of  Rome  at  that  time ;  the 
phrase  "the  whole  world"  (rjyv  ohoufievrjv  oXr^v)  of  which 
Satan  was  the  deceiver  (Ch.  12 :  9),  being  the  well 
known  designation  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Luke  2  : 
1 ;  Acts  11 :  28 ;  17 :  6 ;  24 :  5.  These,  with  Death  and 
Hades — ^personifications  before  shown  as  connected 
with  persecution  (Ch.  6 :  8) — and  all  whose  names  were 
not  found  in  the  register  of  the  faithful,  are  cast  into 
the  lake  of  fire.  This  was  the  second  death,  contrasted 
again  with  the  life  of  the  martyrs,  which  was  the  first 
resurrection. 

The  import  of  this  passage,  then,  as  a  whole,  is  very 
simple.  God  will  destroy  the  persecutors  of  his  people 
and  reward  the  latter  according  to  their  fidelity  or  the 
opposite.  It  is  a  prophecy  having  special  reference  to 
the  age  in  which  John  wrote ;  and  while  the  general 
principles  involved  in  it  apply  to  all  ages,  its  immediate 
and  direct  fulfillment  was  among  the  things  which  it 
was  announced  at  the  opening  of  the  book  must 
"  shortly  come  to  pass." 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  AGE   OF  CONQUEST. 

Thus  far  we  have  come  in  the  history  of  the  King- 
dom under  the  two-fold  guidance  of  Prophecy  and 
Providence.  The  Parousia  continues ;  Christ  is  pres- 
ent in  his  kingdom  among  men,  and  is  steadily  carry- 
ing forward  the  government  which  is  in  his  hand 
toward  the  consummation. 

That  consummation  is  described  generally  in  the 
glowing  visions  of  th^  ancient  prophets,  and  in  nu- 
merous passages  from  our  Lord's  own  sayings  and 
the  writings  of  the  apostles.  I  shall  presently  speak 
of  these  more  particularly.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that, 
while  expressed  in  general,  often  symbolic,  terms,  it 
will  be  one  equaling  all  that  the  most  ardent  hopes 
of  man  have  ventured  to  anticipate.  Indeed,  it  is 
expressly  declared  that  neither  the  senses  nor  imagina- 
tion of  man  are  adequate  to  conceive  of  the  glorious 
reality.  Though  the  "thousand  years"  of  Rev.  20 
refer  to  another  event,  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  under- 
stood that  the  world  is  not  to  have  its  millennium^  in 
the  sense  usually  denoted,  of  universal  peace,  rest,  and 
felicity. 

The  question  now  is  as  to  the  methods  by  which 
that  period  is  to  be  introduced ;  and  in  respect  to  this 
there  are  two  theories. 

159  -   - 

RSiTY 


160  THE  PAEOUSIA. 

The  first  is  that  it  is  to  take  place  suddenly;  ushered 
upon  the  world  by  a  grand  visible  appearing  of  Christ 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  to  destroy  by  his  judgments 
all  the  wicked,  and  with  glorious  power  and  majesty 
set  up  his  kingdom  upon  the  earth.  This  is  the  view 
advocated  by  Adventists  and  Millenarians  generally. 
For  myself,  I  know  of  nothing  to  warrant  it,  or  even 
to  give  it  plausibility.  As  to  any  such  "coming"  of 
Christ,  the  Scriptures  are  silent.  His  real  Parousia 
began  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  and  we  know  noth- 
ing of  any  other.  Or,  if  it  did  not,  I  can  see  no  ground 
for  expecting  it  now.  In  the  elaborate  calculations  of 
prophetical  arithmetic,  which  are  so  often  advanced' to 
prove  its  present  near  approach,!  have  no  confidence. 
The  "  times  "  and  "  days  "  of  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject,  relating  to  things 
wholly  and  long  ago  past.  The  principle  on  which 
these  periods,  whatever  they  are,  are  converted  into 
"years,"  has  no  sufficient  authorization.  *  The  date 
or  dates  from  which  it  is  customary  to  reckon  them,  are 
both  uncertain  in  themselves  and  irrelevant  to  the 
matter  in  hand.  The  events  in  which  it  is  expected 
they  will  issue,  such  as  the  arrest  of  the  course  of  hu- 
man affairs,  the  sudden  end  of  this  mundane  sphere, 
the  penal  destruction  of  the  unconverted,  the  confla- 
gration of  this  globe,  and  the  establishment  of  an 
earthly  kingdom  at  Jerusalem  or  elswhere  in  which  he 
will  reign  bodily  and  visibly  for  a  thousand  years — all 
this  seems  to  me  without  warrant  from  Scripture,  to 

aSee  Prof.  Cowles's  Dissertation  appended  to  his  Commentary 
on  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  p.  450. 


TEE  AGE  OF  CONQUEST.  161 

be  derived  from  it  only  by  violating  the  most  obvious 
and  fundamental  principles  of  interpretation,  and  in 
direct  contravention  of  what  is  positively  taught  us 
as  to  the  true  history  and  destiny  of  this  world. 

The  other,  and  what  I  deem  the  true,  view  is  that 
the  consummation  is  to  be  reached  by  development, 
under  the  operation  of  established  laws,  and  may, 
therefore,  require  many  years,  perhaps  centuries,  for 
its  attainment. 

1.  For,  first,  our  Lord  has  expressly  asserted  this 
to  be  the  mode  of  progress  in  his  kingdom.  We  have 
before  cited  some  of  his  words  on  this  subject.  "  It 
is,"  said  he,  "  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the 
ground,  and  should  sleep  and  rise,  night  and  day,  and 
the  seed  should  spring  and  grow  up^ — first  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  "  It  is 
like  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  which  when  it  is  sown  in 
the  earth  is  less  than  all  the  seeds  that  be  in  the  earth, 
but  when  it  is  sown  it  groweth  up  and  becometh 
greater  than  all  herbs,  and  shooteth  out  great  branches, 
so  that  the  fowls  of  the  air  may  lodge  under  the 
shadow  of  it."  Mark  4 :  26-32.  "  It  is  like  leaven, 
which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal  till  the  whole  was  leavened."  Matt.  13 :  33.  In 
other  words,  development  from  within,  growth  from 
its  own  divinely  implanted  law  of  life,  is  the  mode  of 
that  kingdom's  advancement.  We  do  not  mean  that 
there  is  not  a  constant  providential  superintendence 
over  it,  guarding  and  guiding  it,  and  above  all  a  con- 
stant ministry  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  quickening  its  life, 
and  supplying  ever  new  vital  forces,  but  that  all  this 


162  THE  PAROUSIA, 

is  under  the  normal  law  of  the  Kingdom.  Now,  it 
seems  to  me  in  the  highest  degree  unreasonable  to 
assume  that  Christ  is  going  to  violate  or  ignore  this 
principle  which  he  has  himself  so  clearly  enunciated, 
and  by  a  sudden  interference,  with  miracle  and  violence, 
arrest  this  established  course  of  things  and  introduce 
another.  He  will  not  devastate  the  growing  field,  and 
instantaneously  create  a  crop.  He  will  not  throw 
away  the  "  stone  cut  out  without  hands,"  and  let  down 
from  heaven  the  mighty  mountain  which  is  to  fill  the 
whole  earth.  To  do  so  is  to  confess  his  own  law  of 
growth  a  failure,  or  to  manifest  a  capriciousness  of 
plan  and  purpose  inconsistent  with  the  character  of 
Him  "  with  whom  is  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of 
turning." 

2.  What  was  thus  asserted  in  principle  as  the  law 
of  growth  in  Christ's  Kingdom,  has  been  confirmed  in 
fact.  It  is  now  two  thousand  years,  nearly,  since  that 
kingdom  was  first  established,  and  during  all  this  period 
the  vital  forces  implanted  in  it  have  been  working ; 
and  it  is  these,  under  the  fostering  care  of  God's 
providence  and  Spirit,  which  have  resulted  in  what  we 
see  to-day  of  the  majestic  prevalence  and  power  of 
Christianity.  Never  has  there  been  any  sudden  inter- 
vention of  extraordinary  force  in  its  behalf,  to  remove 
obstacles,  to  save  from  disasters,  to  destroy  enemies, 
or  to  impart  miraculous  powers.  All  pretenses  of 
that  sort  recorded  in  medieval  legends  or  the  lives  of 
the  saints,  are  myths,  unworthy  of  a  moment's  serious 
attention.  Read  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  gen- 
uine writings  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  the  records  of 


THE  AGE  OF  CONQUEST.  163 

authentic  history,  and  you  discern  in  them  the  operation 
of  the  same  spiritual  forces,  and  only  the  same,  which 
we  see  at  work  in  our  own  day.  From  the  scenes  of 
the  day  of  Pentecost  which  ushered  in  the  new  King- 
dom, to  the  Reformation  under  Luther  and  Calvin 
and  Knox,  and  the  revivals  attending  the  preaching  of 
Edwards  and  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  and  our  own 
Moody  and  Sankey,  the  story  of  salvation  has  ever  been 
one  and  the  same.  Men  have  been  sanctified  through 
the  truth.  Through  the  foolishness  of  preaching  God 
has  saved  them  that  believe.  The  Lord  has  daily 
added  the  saved  to  the  church.  And  what  has  been 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe  will  be,  save  that  there 
may  be  increase  in  the  rate  of  progress.  Nations,  by 
and  by,  will  be  born  in  a  day,  nevertheless,  they  will 
be  horn  as  they  always  were, — as  individual  souls  are 
— by  the  Spirit  of  God,  through  belief  of  the  truth. 
There  never  has  been  any  other  mode  of  spiritual 
conquest  for  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  there  is  no 
warrant  for  believing  there  ever  will  be. 

3.  This  fundamental  law  of  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  Christ,  receives  strong  confirmation  from  the  demon- 
strations of  science  in  respect  to  the  physical  history 
of  the  globe.  The  crust  of  the  earth  has  been  sub- 
jected to  innumerable  changes  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages. 
Systems  of  rock-formations  have  followed  systems, 
each  with  its  distinctive  fossils,  vegetable  and  animal ; 
every  point  of  the  earth's  surface  has  been  again  and 
again  alternately  submerged  under  the  ocean,  and 
elevated  above  it;  climates  the  most  diverse  have 
prevailed,   including   even  torrid   arctics   and  frigid 


164  THE  PAROUSIA. 

tropics ;  races  of  plants  and  animals,  ranging  from  the 
humblest  seaweed  to  the  California  pine,  from  the 
microscopic  ocean  shell,  through  successive  tribes  of 
mollusks,  fishes,  saurians,  and  mammals,  have  come 
into  being,  have  lived  and  died  and  become  extinct. 
Man,  the  present  lord  of  creation,  is  but  "of  yesterday," 
the  youngest,  as  he  is  the  highest,  of  these  works  of 
God.  Yet  this  immeasurable  series  of  changes,  affect- 
ing both  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants,  has  been  wrought, 
as  is  now  well  established,  by  natural  causes,  ordained 
by  the  Creator  indeed,  but  working  each  slowly  and 
progressively  according  to  its  own  law.  Theories  of 
catastrophes  and  "  cataclysms  "  changing  suddenly  the 
condition  of  the  globe,  or  of  its  flora  and  fauna,  except 
to  a  very  limited  extent,  are  now  almost  wholly  dis- 
carded. Says  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  than  whom  there  is 
no  higher  authority  on  these  matters,  "  I  see  no  reason 
for  supposing  that  any  part  of  the  revolutions  in 
physical  geography — indicate  any  catastrophe  greater 
than  those  which  the  present  generation  has  wit- 
nessed." *  And  Professor  Dawson,  "  In  all  the  lapse 
of  geological  time  there  has  been  an  absolute  uniform- 
ity of  natural  law.  The  same  grand  machinery  of 
force  and  matter  has  been  in  use  throughout  all  the 
ages,  working  out  the  great  plan.  Yet  the  plan  has 
been  progressive  and  advancing,  nevertheless.  The 
tmiformity  has  been  in  the  methods ;  the  results  have 
presented  a  wondrous  diversity  and  development."  ^ 
Now,  I  concede  that  this  is  not  proof  that  a  similar 

*  Antiquity  of  Man,  p.  287. 

^  Story  of  the  Earth  and  Man,  p.  3. 


THE  AGE  OF  CONQUEST.  165 

law  of  progress  prevails  in  God's  spiritual  kingdom, 
but  it  certainly  creates  a  strong  presumption  in  its 
favor.  It  is  the  same  God  who  worketh  all  in  all. 
He  is  not  restricted  in  time,  as  man  is ;  he  can  take 
enough  for  all  he  desires.  He  has  eternity  for  his 
working  day,  and  needs  no  coups  de  main^  no  sudden 
surprises,  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  vast  designs. 
Invisible  in  his  own  being  to  the  eyes  of  his  creatures, 
he  is  invisible  also  in  the  methods  by  which  he  acts ; 
making  it  his  glory  "to  conceal  a  matter,"  till  the 
grand  results  thereof  are  matured  and  may  be  exhibited 
in  their  perfection  and  beneficence  to  his  admiring 
universe. 

In  hinting  at  the  course  of  this  progressive  develop- 
ment,— for  I  can  do  no  more — we  have  but  little  help 
from  revelation.  Prophecy  while  so  full  and  impas- 
sioned in  describing  the  consummation  itself,  gives  but 
the  merest  glimpse  of  the  several  steps  or  stages  that 
are  to  lead  to  it.  I  venture  to  suggest  only  the  follow- 
ing: 

1.  Christianity  is  to  become  universal  throughout 
the  earth.  This  implies,  first,  that  its  territory  and 
population  are  to  become  known  to  Christian  nations. 
In  this  view,  the  career  of  discovery,  which  may  be 
dated  from  the  time  of  Columbus,  has  been  closely 
allied  with  the  advancement  of  the  gospel.  In  these 
four  hundred  years,  a  new  continent  has  been  found, 
explored,  colonized,  and  to  a  large  extent  christian- 
ized. The  discovery  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and 
of  the  passage  to  India,  has  opened  all  Southern  and 
Eastern  Asia  to  the  knowledge,  the  commerce  and 


166  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  religion  of  Europe.  Captain  Cook  sailed  round 
the  world,  and  made  known  the  innumerable  islands 
of  the  Pacific,  where,  since  then,  nations  of  cannibals 
have  been  raised  from  the  deepest  degradation,  and 
made  living  witnesses  of  the  transforming  power  of 
the  gospel.  Even  Africa,  so  long  hermetically  sealed 
and  hopelessly  bound  in  the  fetters  of  fetichism  and 
slavery,  is  now  revealing  its  mysteries,  and  showing 
us  new  missionary  fields,  inviting  immediate  occupa- 
tion, of  the  most  promising  character.  And,  in  gen- 
eral, I  think  it  may  be  safely  said,  in  view  of  the 
vastly  improved  methods  of  navigation  and  travel,  the 
spirit  of  scientific  inquiry,  the  enlarged  demands  of 
commerce,  and  the  increase  of  missionary  zeal 
throughout  all  branches  of  the  Christian  church,  that 
within  less  than  fifty  years,  the  entire  territory  of  our 
habitable  globe  will  have  been  explored  and  opened 
to  the  access  of  the  gospel. 

2.  Christianity  is  to  become  the  sole  religion  of 
mankind.  It  is  even  now  the  only  one  which  is  mak- 
ing any  progress  in  the  world.  All  the  old  systems 
of  the  East,  though  still  holding  in  their  embrace  a 
majority  of  the  race,  are  fast  sinking  into  decrepitude, 
and  wherever  they  come  into  contact  with  Christianity, 
are  falling  before  it.  Mohammedanism  sleeps  in  its 
fatalistic  sensualism,  with  no  power  to  resist  the  en- 
croachment of  Western  nations.  Brahminism  finds 
its  Vedas  convicted  of  false  science  and  philosophy,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Buddhism, 
Confucianism  and  Sintism  can  no  longer  shut  them- 
selves away  from  the  light  behind   the  barriers   of 


THE  AGE  OF  CONQUEST.  167 

national  exclusiveness.  The  grosser  forms  of  idolatry, 
prevailing  among  savage  tribes,  all  yield  at  the  ap- 
proach of  the  gospel  borne  to  them  from  the  lands  of 
civilization.  Look  the  world  over,  and  we  can  find 
no  system  of  false  religion  propagating  itself  as  in 
past  ages,  none  aggressive  as  against  other  systems, 
none  even  holding  its  own  against  the  progress  of 
Christianity.  Here,  too,  we  risk  little  in  the  prophe- 
cy that  a  single  hundred  years  from  the  present  time 
may  see  the  latter  the  only  religion  of  the  world 
recognized  as  true. 

3.  Christianity  is  to  be  greatly  intensified  in  power. 
It  is  to  bring  those  who  are  subject  to  it  to  a  higher 
plane  of  experience,  a  more  intelligent  devotion  to 
Christ's  service,  a  more  symmetrical  and  perfect  type 
of  character.  It  is  to  make  conquests  among  the  un- 
converted, gathering  them  in  rich,  continuous  harvests 
into  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord.  Children  of  pious 
parents  are  to  grow  up  into  Christ  from  their  birth. 
Revivals  are  to  be  multiplied  with  a  power  and  per- 
vasiveness such  as  the  world  has  not  before  seen. 
Sectarian  dissensions  in  the  church  are  to  diminish  in 
bitterness,  and  Christian  love  and  unity  show  their 
blessed  fruits,  removing  what  has  for  ages  been  one  of 
the  chief  hindrances  to  the  advancement  of  the  truth, 
and  increasing  the  power  of  the  church  a  hundred 
fold  for  conquests  over  infidelity,  and  all  intrenched 
and  organized  forms  of  evil.  To  a  student  of  reli- 
gious history,  the  progress  which  has  been  made  dur- 
ing the  last  hundred  years  in  all  these  respects  appears 
no  way  inferior  to  that  which  has  been  witnessed  in 


168  THE  PAROUSIA, 

all  the  other  departments  of  the  world's  career.  It 
has  been  a  century  of  revivals,  such  as  no  former  age 
has  known.  In  our  own  country,  vast  as  has  been  the 
growth  of  population,  the  increase  of  evangelical 
churches,  both  in  numbers  and  membership,  has  been 
in  a  still  larger  ratio.  It  has  been  the  era  of  missions, 
which,  from  the  humblest  beginnings,  have  now  belted 
the  globe  with  their  stations  and  their  churches  of  na- 
tive converts.  It  has  introduced  a  new  age  of  benev- 
olence, teaching  that  no  man  liveth  to  himself,  that 
Christianity  is,  in  its  essence,  the  following  of  Christ, 
the  Master,  in  his  work  of  saving  men.  It  has,  we 
doubt  not,  elevated  the  standard  of  individual  Chris- 
tian character,  and  promoted  through  society  as  a 
whole  a  more  intelligent  faith  and  a  purer  morality. 
Vast  as  are  the  evils  that  remain,  numerous  and  gross 
as  are  the  crimes  which  shock  us,  they  are  still  less 
prevalent,  as  compared  with  the  population,  than  in 
any  former  age  that  can  be  named  since  the  time 
when  an  inspired  pen  drew  that  awful  portraiture  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Romans  of  the  state  of  society  in 
the  capital  and  mistress  of  the  world.  In  a  word,  the 
gospel  is  beginning  to  mature  its  fruit;  and  it  only 
needs  such  pentecostal  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  as 
we  have  already  seen  some  small  earnests  of,  and  as, 
we  believe,  are  soon  to  be  multiplied  beyond  all 
precedent,  to  give  it  an  intensity  as  well  as  spread  of 
power,  that  shall,  ere  many  centuries  pass,  bring  the 
whole  population  of  the  globe  within  its  saving 
efficacy. 

4.     Christianity  become  thus  universal  and  potent 


THE  AGE  OF  CONQUEST.  169 

in  its  sway  over  men  as  individuals,  is  to  pervade  all 
the  forces  that  mold  human  character  and  affect  the 
condition  of  the  world.  Among  these  forces  are 
government,  law,  education,  science,  art,  philosophy, 
commerce,  fashion,  domestic  economy,  employments, 
etc.  We  have  only  to  conceive  of  all  these  as  made 
thoroughly  Christian,  as  they  will  when  men  them- 
selves become  such,  to  see  that  under  them  this  will 
become  literally  a  "new  world."  What  mighty 
wastes  of  all  that  constitutes  the  world's  life,  through 
war,  and  oppression,  and  lust,  and  robbery,  and  crime 
of  all  sorts,  will  be  stayed !  What  inconceivable  in- 
crease of  all  that  will  tend  to  make  it  purer  and  better, 
will  accrue  !  How  rapid  will  then  be  its  progress  in 
subduing  the  wildernesses,  enlarging  the  habitable 
area  of  the  earth,  multiplying  wealth,  increasing  the 
means  of  living  and  the  average  duration  of  life,  ele- 
vating the  tastes  and  the  pleasures  of  mankind,  enno- 
bling their  aspirations,  in  a  word,  uplifting  the  family 
of  man,  and  realizing  for  him  the  rapturous  predictions 
of  the  prophets  as  to  the  latter-day  blessedness  and 
glory  of  the  earth !  We  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  in 
precisely  this  way  that  those  predictions  are  to  reach 
their  fulfillment.  The  earth  itself  is  to  be  regenerated 
morally  and  physically,  the  latter  through  the  former. 
God  is  going  to  make  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth, 
but  he  will  do  it  not  by  sudden  miracle,  but  by  the 
hands  of  the  renewed  and  sanctified  inhabitants  of 
the  earth.  He  is  to  be  in  the  hearts  of  men  as  the 
new  Creator  who  makes  all  things  new.  It  is  thus 
that  his  tabernacle  is  to  be  with  them,  and  he  will 


170  THE  PAROUSIA. 

dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and 
God  himself  shall  be  with  them  and  be  their  God. 
And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes, 
and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor 
crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain,  for  the 
former  things  are  passed  away. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  CONSUMMATION". 

"  Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  have  deliv- 
ered up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father ;  when 
he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule  and  authority  and 
power.  For  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies 
under  his  feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed 
is  death."     1  Cor.  15 :  24-26. 

The  word  end — to  zeXo^ — may  signify  either  the 
termination  of  a  thing,  or  its  consummation,  that  in 
which  ifc  eventuates.  Instances  of  the  latter  meaning 
are  the  following :  Matt.  26  :  28,  "  Peter  went  in  to 
see  the  end,"  i.  e.  the  result  or  outcome  of  the  proceed- 
ings. Rom.  6 :  21,  "  The  end  of  those  things  is 
death."  James  5 :  11,  "  Ye  have  heard  of  the  patience 
of  Job,  and  have  seen  the  end  of  the  Lord,"  i.  e.  the 
issue  which  God  gave  to  his  trials.  1  Peter  1:  9, 
"Receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  the  salvation  of  your 
souls."  Also  2  Cor.  11 :  15  ;  Phil.  3  :  19 ;  Heb.  6:8; 
1  Pet.  4:  IT;  etc. 

I  take  it  that  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  in 
this  place,  as  denoting  the  issue  or  consummation  of 
Christ's  reign  as  King.  We  shall  presently  see  reasons 
which  forbid  us  to  understand  it  in  the  other  sense, — 
that  of  cessation.  It  was  the  object  of  the  apostle  in 
this  sublime  chapter  of  the  resurrection,  not  to  say 

171 


172  THE  PABOUSIA. 

how  long  Christ  would  reign,  but  what  should  be  its 
result,  the  climax  of  all  his  victories  over  sin  and  hell. 
As  death  is  the  consummation  of  all  the  evils  that  can 
happen  to  man  on  earth ;  as  all  sin  and  pain  and  woe 
precede  and  find  their  culmination  in  this,  so  the  saving 
power  of  Christ  reaches  equally  far,  and  having  over- 
come all  other  woes  delivers  him  at  last  from  the 
power  of  death  itself. 

To  appreciate  fully  this  language  of  the  apostle  we 
must  recur,  as  in  former  cases,  to  the  conceptions  of 
the  Jews  as  to  the  origin  of  sin  and  death.  Whatever 
modern  skepticism  may  say  on  the  subject,  the  devil  was 
a  very  real  being  in  their  system  of  belief.  It  was  in 
his  temptation  of  our  first  parents  that  sin  originated, 
and  death  as  the  fruit  of  sin.  From  that  time,  he  is 
represented  as  having  a  kingdom  on  earth  antagonistic 
to  the  kingdom  of  Jehovah.  Matt.  12 :  26 ;  Luke  11 
18.  He  is  called  "  the  god  of  this  world,"  (2  Cor.  4 
4),  and  "  the  prince  of  this  world,"  John  12 :  31 ;  14 
30  ;  16 :  11.  Other  evil  spirits  subject  to  his  authority 
are  called  "  his  angels."  Matt.  25 :  41.  He  is  "  the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  worketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience."  Eph.  2 :  2.  He  is 
the  leader  of  "  principalities  and  powers,  the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  this  world,  spirits  of  wickedness  in  high 
places."  Eph.  6 :  12  ;  Rom.  8  :  38.  In  this  capacity 
of  the  prince  of  evil  he  is  ever  active  in  inciting  to 
sin.  He  filled  the  heart  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  to 
lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  Acts  6:3.  He  prompted 
Judas  to  betray  his  Lord.  John  13 :  2.  He  instigated 
the  hostility  of  the  Pharisees  to  Jesus.     John  8 :  44. 


THE  CONSUMMATION.  173 

He  afflicted  men  with  disease,  evil  possessions,  and  all 
kinds  of  suffering.  Acts  10  :  38.  And  as  his  crown- 
ing terror,  he  had  the  "power  of  death"  by  which  he 
kept  men  all  their  lives  in  bondage.     Heb.  2  :  14. 

Now,  in  conformity  with  these  representations  of  the 
power  and  malevolence  of  Satan,  we  find  that  the 
work  of  Christ  as  King  and  Saviour  is  described  as 
the  defeat  of  Satan  and  the  destruction  of  his  kingdom. 
The  first  grand  prophecy  of  the  future  was  that  the 
seed  of  the  tempted  and  sinning  woman  should  bruise 
the  tempter's  head.  When  Jesus  began  his  works  of 
mercy,  he  cast  out  devils.  When  the  Seventy  return- 
ing from  their  mission  reported  the  wonderful  fact 
that  they  had  power  to  do  the  same,  their  Master 
exulted  in  spirit  as  already  witnessing  the  downfall  of 
the  enemy's  kingdom.  "  I  beheld,"  said  he,  "  Satan 
as  lightning  falling  from  heaven."  Luke  10  ;  18.  It 
was  his  to  "  bind  the  strong  man,  and  despoil  him  of 
his  goods."  Matt.  12  :  29.  It  was  "  for  this  very  pur- 
pose that  he  was  manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil."  1  John  3  :  8.  Nay,  even  the  last 
and  most  dreaded  power  of  the  great  adversary  should 
be  wrested  from  him.  Jesus  himself  died  "  that  through 
death  he  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of 
death,  and  deliver  them  who  through  fear  of  death 
were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage."  Heb.  2  : 
14,  15. 

It  is  precisely  the  same  truth,  then,  I  cannot  doubt, 
which  is  meant  to  be  asserted  in  this  chapter  of  the 
resurrection.  This  is  the  end,  the  consummation, 
when  the  reigning  Messiah  shall  have  wrested  from 


174  THE  PABOUSIA. 

Satan  his  usurped  kingdom  over  man,  and  delivered  it 
to  the  Father  from  whom  it  was  stolen,  having  put 
down  (Gr.  brought  to  nought)  all  rebellious  rule, 
authority  and  power.  For  by  the  scope  of  his  appoint- 
ment as  Messianic  King,  he  must  reign  till  he  hath 
put  all  enemies  under  his  feet ;  the  last,  the  supreme 
one  of  all  is  death. 

From  the  Jewish — which  is,  too,  the  Bible — stand- 
point, then,  no  more  pregnant  prophecy  of  the  coming 
era  of  holiness  and  blessedness  could  have  been  uttered 
than  the  subjugation  of  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  the 
putting  down  of  all  evil  rule,  authority,  and  power. 
It  will  be  in  truth  a  millennium,  not  of  duration  but 
of  glory,  of  which  the  far  inferior  thousand  years  of 
his  binding  in  the  abyss,  that  ended  his  one  work  of 
making  war  on  the  church,  were  but  a  faint  type  and 
pledge.  That  was  to  end  persecution  ;  this  will  end 
all  his  devilish  work  on  earth.  That  ended  his  career 
for  ever  as  a  foe  in  arms,  reeking  with  the  blood  of 
the  saints ;  this  will  end  it  in  his  whole  character  and 
capacity  as  an  enemy  of  God  and  his  kingdom  on  earth. 

I  will  not  presume  to  imagine  what  this  world  will 
become  when  sin  is  destroyed,  and  when  all  its  inhab- 
itants and  all  its  forces  shall  become  holy  to  the  Lord. 
Under  the  inspiration  of  such  a  theme,  the  prophets 
labored  with  raptures  unutterable.  Language  was  all 
too  poor  to  set  forth  the  wonders  that  beamed  upon  their 
ecstatic  vision.  All  sublime  imagery,  all  grouping  of 
what  was  beauty  to  the  eye,  and  melody  to  the  ear,  of 
what  was  grateful  to  sense,  and  inciting  to  expectation, 
and  assuring  to  hope,  was  used  by  them,  and  when  they 


TBE  CONSUMMATION.  175 

had  said  all,  it  remained  to  add  that  "  eye  hath  not 
seen  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  him." 

So  shall  be  accomplished  the  Kingly  function  of 
the  Lord  under  his  Parousia.  It  is  a  work  begun  at 
his  ascension,  carried  forward  through  the  snccessive 
ages  of  persecution,  conquest,  and  victory,  and  then 
perpetuated  in  a  reign  of  righteousness  and  blessed- 
ness for  ever.  I  hope  to  show  that  his  associated 
works  as  the  Life-Giver  and  Judge  are  comple- 
mentary and  auxiliary  to  this,  the  three  together  con- 
stituting the  work  of  that  Parousia  which  he  promised 
to  his  people,  and  which  he  bade  them  make  their 
inspiration  and  their  hope. 

"Earth,  thou  grain  of  sand  on  the  shore  of  the 
universe  of  God ;  thou  Bethlehem  amongst  the  princely 
cities  of  the  heavens  ;  thou  art  and  remainest  the  loved 
one  amongst  ten  thousand  suns  and  worlds,  the  chosen 
of  God  !  Thee  will  he  again  visit,  and  then  thou  wilt 
prepare  a  throne  for  him,  as  thou  gavest  him  a  manger 
cradle.  In  his  radiant  glory  thou  wilt  rejoice,  as  thou 
didst  once  drink  his  blood  and  tears,  and  mourn  his 
death.  On  thee  has  the  Lord  a  great  work  to  com- 
plete!"* 

»  Presselj  quoted  by  Geikie,  Life  of  Christ  vol.  2,  p.  608. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

THE  PERPETUITY  OF   CHRIST'S  KINGDOM. 

The  views  I  have  advanced  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters will  be  objected  to  on  the  ground  that  they  omit 
all  mention  of  the  Resurrection  and  General  Judg- 
ment, as  related  to  the  consummation  of  Christ's 
Kingdom ;  also,  as  being  inconsistent  with  the  com- 
monly received  doctrines  of  his  ultimate  surrender  of 
that  Kingdom  to  the  Father,  and  the  end  of  the  pres- 
ent world.  The  first  two  of  these  topics  I  have  pur- 
posely deferred  for  consideration  by  themselves ;  the 
remaining  two  may  appropriately  be  considered  here. 

The  doctrine  of  the  surrender  by  Christ  of  his 
Kingdom  to  the  Father  is  stated  by  Dr.  Hodge,  thus : 
"That  dominion  to  which  he  was  exalted  after  his 
resurrection,  when  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth 
was  committed  into  his  hands — this  kingdom  which 
he  exercises  as  the  Theanthropos,  and  which  extends 
over  all  principalities  and  powers,  he  is  to  deliver  up 
when  the  work  of  redemption  is  accomplished.  He 
was  invested  with  this  dominion  in  his  mediatorial 
character,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  work  to 
its  consummation.  When  that  is  done,  2.  e,  when  he 
has  subdued  all  his  enemies,  then  he  will  no  longer 
reign  over  the  universe  as  mediator."  * 

a  Com.  1  Cor.  15 :  24. 

176 


PERPETUITY  OF  CHRIST S  KINGDOM.       177 

This  is  surely  a  remarkable  doctrine.  That  so  great 
a  change  should  take  place  in  the  relations  of  the  Per- 
sons of  the  Godhead  to  each  other  and  to  man ;  that 
the  work  of  redemption,  founded  in  such  a  sacrifice 
and  carried  forward  under  the  administration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  should  like  a  human  undertaking  have  run 
through  its  career  and  be  ready  to  vanish  away,  is  one 
that  tasks  all  our  powers  to  conceive  of.  That  a  reign 
so  august  should  cease  at  the  moment  of  victory ;  that 
a  throne  should  be  abandoned  just  when  it  becomes  an 
undisputed  one  ;  that  a  kingdom  should  be  given  up 
when  it  has  attained  universal  peace  and  rest,  are  pro- 
positions, to  be  received  indeed  if  sufficiently  revealed, 
but  in  support  of  which  we  certainly  have  a  right  to 
demand  the  very  clear  testimony  of  God's  word. 

It  is  no  less  astonishing  that  such  a  truth,  if  it  be  a 
truth,  is  supposed  to  be  taught  in  but  a  single  passage 
of  the  Scriptures.  Christ  himself,  when  so  fully  pre- 
dicting the  events  of  his  Parousia,  gives  not  a  hint  of 
the  kind.  The  Seer  of  Patmos  caught  not  a  glimpse 
of  it  in  all  the  grand  apocalypse  disclosed  to  him. 
None  of  the  apostolic  writers,  save  one,  makes  the 
slightest  allusion  to  it,  and  he  only  in  a  single  inciden- 
tal remark  while  discussing  another  topic.  Of  course, 
all  this  does  not  disprove  its  truth,  but  it  does  excite 
our  surprise,  and  warrant  a  very  careful  examination 
of  the  passage  supposed  to  teach  it. 

That  passage  is  the  one  before  considered  in  part  in 

1  Cor.  15  :  24,  25,  28.     *'Then  cometh  the  end,  when 

he  shall  have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even 

the  Father. — For  he  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all 

9 


178  THE  PAROUSIA. 

enemies  under  his  feet. — And  when  all  things  shall  be 
subdued  unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  himself  be 
subject  unto  him  that  put  all  things  under  him,  that 
God  may  be  all  in  all." 

I  have  already  adduced  reasons,  which  seem  to  me 
demonstrative,  for  understanding  the  "kingdom"  here 
mentioned,  not  of  Christ's  own  received  by  him  at  his 
ascension,  but  of  the  usurped  but  now  subdued  king- 
dom of  Satan.  I  submit  that  this  view  better  har- 
monizes with  the  apostolic  subject  and  course  of 
thought,  which  are  Christ's  victory  over  the  Prince  of 
death,  thereby  obtaining  a  new  resurrection  life  for  his 
people. 

The  declaration  "He  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all 
enemies  under  his  feet,"  does  not  imply  chat  he  will 
not  reign  after  that.  See  remarks  on  this  mode  of 
expression  on  page  157. 

The  translation  of  the  28th  verse,  in  our  version, 
does  not  conform  to  the  order  of  the  words  as  they 
stand  in  the  Greek, — tots  xal  a'jTO^  6  ulb^  dKOTayrj- 
aeTac.  The  emphatic  word  is  rors,  then^  making  prom- 
inent the  time  referred  to.  This  is  qualified  by  xat^ 
also,  connecting  it  with  the  previous  time,  and  showing 
that  what  is  affirmed  shall  be  true  then  also  as  it  had 
been  before.  The  victorious  Messiah  will  still  hold  a  del- 
egated throne  as  he  had  previously  done,  his  kingdom 
having  been  received  from  his  Father.  Dan.  7  :  14 ; 
Luke  19  :  12  ;  22  :  29 ;  John  5  :  22,  27  ;  Eph.  1 :  20-23  ; 
Phil.  2 :  9-11 ;  Heb.  1:4;  Rev.  3 :  21.  But  our  com- 
mon version  renders  xac  as  if  connected  with  vtb^, 
the  So7i  also,  i.  e.  as  well  as  the  "  all  things," — which 


PERPETUITY  OF  CHRISrS  KINGDOM.       179 

makes  the  passage  imply  that  his  authority  had  not 
before  been  a  delegated  one  ;  that  the  subordination 
then  first  takes  place,  which  we  know  is  not  the  truth. 
This  subjection,  then,  after  his  victory  over  Satan,  no 
more  implies  a  surrender  of  his  kingdom  to  the  Father 
than  it  ever  had  done.  It  was  from  the  first  a  king- 
dom given  to  him,  held  in  subordination  to  the  Father's 
will ;  and  such,  even  after  his  last  crowning  victory 
over  his  enemy  and  man's,  it  will  continue  to  be. 

While  the  passage,  then,  in  its  terms,  does  not,  on 
careful  examination,  teach  the  alleged  doctrine  of 
Christ's  surrender  of  his  kingdom,  there  are  many 
other  facts  which  absolutely  forbid  such  an  interpre- 
tation. 

1.  It  is  often  and  with  the  utmost  emphasis  affirmed 
that  his  kingdom  is  to  be  without  end. 

"  The  God  of  heaven,"  said  Daniel,  "  shall  set  up  a 
kingdom  which  shall  never  be  destroyed;  and  the 
kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall 
break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and 
it  shall  stand  for  ever."  "  There  was  given  him 
dominion,  and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people, 
nations,  and  languages  should  serve  him  :  his  dominion 
is  an  everlasting  dominion  which  shall  not  pass  away, 
and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed." 
Dan.  2  :  44 ;  7  :  14.  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born ;  unto 
us  a  Son  is  given ;  and  the  government  shall  be  upon 
his  shoulder.  *  *  *  Of  the  increase  of  his  govern- 
ment and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne 
of  David,  and  upon  his  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to 
establish  it  with  judgment  and  with  justice  from  hence- 


180  THE  PABOUSIA. 

forth  even  for  ever.*'  Isa.  9:6,  7.  "He  shall  be 
great,  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest ;  and 
the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him  the  throne  of  his 
father  David,  and  he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of 
Jacob  for  ever ;  and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no 
end."  Luke  1 :  32,  33.  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrev^^s  quotes  from  the  XLVth  psalm  and 
expressly  applies  to  Christ  in  his  mediatorial  kingdom 
the  words  of  David,  "To  the  Son  he  saith.  Thy 
throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever."  Heb.  1 :  10. 
In  the  Apocalypse,  John  blends  with  his  salutation  to 
the  churches  the  solemn  doxology,  "  Unto  him  that 
loved  us,  and  hath  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own 
blood,  *  *  *  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for 
ever.  Amen."  Rev.  1 :  5,  6.  At  the  sounding  of  the 
seventh  angel,  which  signalizes  the  very  epoch  before 
us,  when  "  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ," — even  in 
that  moment  of  supreme  victory,  it  is  declared,  not 
that  his  dominion  shall  now  be  surrendered,  but  that 
"  he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever."  Rev.  11 :  15. 
And  in  the  New  Jerusalem  state,  which  is  universally 
conceded  to  be  subsequent  to  the  grand  consummation 
and  the  delivery  of  the  kingdom  to  the  Father,  we 
find  the  Son  still  on  the  throne,  shedding  the  light  of 
his  glory  upon  the  redeemed,  and  receiving  their  wor- 
ship for  ever.  "  The  Lord  God  Almighty — and  the 
Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it."  "  The  glory  of  God  did 
lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof,"  etc. 
Rev.  21 :  22,  23. 


PERPETUITY  OF  CHRIST S  KINGDOM.       181 

It  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  supposed  that  these  passages 
are  overlooked  or  disregarded  by  those  who  believe 
in  the  surrender  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  his  ceasing 
to  reign  as  Mediator.  Their  idea  is  that  after  that 
event,  when  the  redeemed  of  earth  are  all  gathered  in 
safety  into  heaven,  ancl  all  sin  is  put  down  or  destroyed, 
when  God  alone  will  "  rule  with  majesty  serene  and 
undisturbed,"  *  Christ  will  then  be,  in  a  subordinate 
sense,  "  head  and  sovereign  "  ^  over  his  people  ;  and 
that  it  is  this  fact  only  which  is  intended  to  be  taught 
in  the  passages  quoted.  Viewing  the  state  of  blessed- 
ness which  they  will  have  attained  in  heaven  after 
death  and  judgment  and  the  ending  of  all  sin  and  all 
the  powers  of  sin  as  a  "  kingdom,"  still  under  Christ's 
immediate  care,  that  this  kingdom  will  never  end, — 
which  is  simply  saying  that  the  happiness  of  the 
redeemed  will  be  eternal.  But  while  this  is  an  un- 
doubted and  glorious  truth,  it  does  not  seem  possible 
to  make  it  that  which  these  passages  mean  to  affirm. 
If  we  can  understand  the  nature  of  a  mediatorial 
kingdom, — a  kingdom  of  grace,  wherein  are  exercised 
the  divine  prerogatives  of  giving  the  Spirit,  interces- 
sion, pardon,  and  justification, — a  kingdom,  having 
indeed  its  throne  in  heaven  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  but  existing  and  carried  forward  here  on  earth, 
— the  kingdom  of  heaven  among  men, — it  is  this  king- 
dom that  is  referred  to  in  these  predictions  of  its 
perpetuity. 

Look  again  at  the  language.     It  was  the  kingdom 

»Kling,  in  Lange's  Com.     1  Cor.  15:  1-28,  p.  318. 
*  Hodge,  Com.  on  1  Cor.,  p.  330. 


182  THE  PAROUSIA. 

that  was  to  be  set  up  "  in  the  days  of  these  kings," 
and  that  "should  break  in  pieces  and  consume"  all 
earthly  kingdoms,  that  should  stand  for  ever.  This, 
most  surely,  was  the  mediatorial  kingdom,  the  con- 
quering and  subduing  kingdom,  and  it  is  of  this  that 
the  perpetuity  is  affirmed.  Is  not  "the  increase  of 
his  government  and  peace  "  something  to  be  realized 
in  time  ?  Does  not  the  "  throne  of  David  "  represent 
his  kingdom  among  men,  and  the  "house  of  Jacob," 
his  universal  earthly  church  ?  The  throne  which 
belongs  to  the  Son  for  ever  and  ever — is  it  not  one 
which,  according  to  the  argument  in  Heb.  1 :  8,  per- 
tains to  him  as  Mediator  ?  Surely,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  on  this  point.  Indeed,  we  know  of  nothing  in 
all  the  range  of  the  Scriptures,  apart  from  this  solitary 
text,  which  warrants  or  suggests  any  such  distinction 
between  Christ's  reign  as  Mediator,  and  that  which  is 
to  be  given  him  after  delivering  up  the  kingdom.  Is 
it, — and  we  ask  with  the  utmost  deference  for  the 
judgment  of  the  eminent  theologians  who  have  main- 
tained it — any  thing  more  than  a  device  for  reconciling 
these  passages  with  the  assumed  finite  duration  of  his 
earthly  kingdom,  involved  in  the  greater  assumption 
of  the  finite  duration  of  this  world  where  it  is  to  be  ? 
In  the  closing  visions  of  Isaiah,  which  are  universally 
held  to  relate  to  Christ's  kingdom,  the  blessedness  and 
glory  of  that  kingdom  are  set  forth  under  the  figure 
of  "new  heavens  and  a  new  earth," — and  the  descrip- 
tion which  follows  shows  that  reference  must  be  had  to 
a  state  of  things  on  earth.  Isa.  Q^  :  17-25.  It  is  then 
added  that  that  state  of  things  shall  be   perpetual. 


PERPETUITY  OF  CUEISTS  KINGDOM.       183 

Isa.  6Q  :  22,  23.  "  For  as  the  new  heavens  and  the 
new  earth,  which  1  will  make,  shall  remain  before  me, 
saith  the  Lord,  so  shall  your  seed  and  your  name 
remain.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  from  one  new 
moon  to  another,  and  from  one  Sabbath  to  another, 
shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship  before  me,  saith  the 
Lord."  There  can  be  no  question,  surely,  of  the 
meaning  of  this  prophecy.  The  church  of  God,  the 
spiritual  and  holy  seed  of  Abraham  constituting  a  new 
Jerusalem,  shall  mtiintain  his  worship  from  age  to  age, 
in  which  all  the  living  family  of  man  shall  engage, 
having  ever  before  them,  as  typified  in  the  ceaseless 
burnings  of  the  Vale  of  Hinnom,  the  punishment  of 
the  wicked.  *'  They  shall  remain  before  me^  saith  the 
Lord";  language  excluding  the  idea  of  a  termination. 
"  The  idea  is,"  says  Mr.  Barnes,  "  that  the  state  of 
things  here  described  would  be  permanent  and 
abiding." 

Besides  these  express  testimonies  to  the  perpetuity 
of  Christ's  kingdom,  there  are  other  considerations 
of  scarcely  less  weight.  That  kingdom  he  received 
as  a  reward  for  his  humiliation  and  sufferings  in  the 
work  of  redemption.  "  Wherefore,  God  hath  highly 
exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name  that  is  above  every 
name ;  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should 
bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  on  earth,  and 
things  under  the  earth ;  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father."  Phil.  2 :  9-11.  But  is  that  reward  to 
cease  the  moment  in  which  the  work  for  which  it  is 
bestowed  is  completed  ?  "Are  not  the  gifts  and  calling 


184  THE  PAROUSIA. 

of  God  without  repentance  ?  Shall  he  so  soon  grow 
weary  of  honoring  his  Son  ?  Shall  the  obedience  of 
his  people  be  crowned  with  eternal  rewards,  and  the 
obedience  of  his  Son  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross,  be  crowned  with  only  a  temporary  dominion  and 
glory  ?  And  shall  he  cease  to  be  Lord  and  King  at  the 
very  time  that  every  knee  shall  bow  to  him  and  every 
tongue  confess  that  he  is  Lord  ?  Shall  that  kingdom 
which  he  first  purchased  with  his  own  blood,  and  then 
secured  to  himself  by  putting  down  all  rule  and  all 
authority  and  power  opposed  to  his  reign,  be  surren- 
dered at  the  very  moment  when  every  tongue  shall 
confess  that  he  is  the  rightful  sovereign  of  the 
universe  ?  "  * 

It  is,  perhaps,  anotlier  form  of  the  same  truth  which 
is  given  in  the  statement  that  Christ  was  "appointed 
heir  of  all  things."  Heb.  1 :  2.  Compare  Matt.  11 : 
27  ;  28  :  18 ;  John  17 :  2,  7,  9,  22.  That  is,  he  received 
from  the  Father  the  created  universe,  to  be  possessed. 
and  governed  by  him,  as  a  son  receives  a  patrimony 
from  his  father.  What  else  can  be  denoted  by  this 
figure  than  his  perfect  and  perpetual  right  to  that 
which  he  inherits  ?  If  the  father  takes  back  what  is 
thus  given,  he  disinherits  his  son.  Is  Christ  then, 
the  moment  he  comes  into  full  and  undisputed  pos- 
session of  his  kingdom,  to  be  disinherited?  Is  the 
temporary  occupancy  thus  implied  all  that  is  meant, 
— a  tenure  which,  as  compared  with  the  eternity  which 
follows,  is  barely  for  a  moment  ? 

Further ;  it  is  the  participation  of  the  honors  and 

•  Van  Valkeiiburgli,  in  Am.  Bib   Rep.  Oct.  1839,  p.  442. 


PEBPETUITY  OF  CHRIST S  KINGDOM.       185 

the  felicity  of  this  kingdom  which  is  to  constitute  the 
blessedness  of  the  redeemed.  They  are  to  be  "  joint- 
heu's  with  Christ ;"  to  "  sit  with  him  in  his  throne ;"  to 
"reign  with  Christ ;"  to  be  partakers  of  the  glory  given 
him  by  the  Father,  etc.  Rom.  8  :  17  ;  Rev.  3  :  21 ;  2 
Tim.  2  :  12 ;  John  17  :  22.  What,  then,  is  to  become 
of  their  reward  if  this  kingdom  is  transient, — if  it  is 
to  be  surrendered  to  the  Father  and  be  held  by  Christ 
himself  no  more  ? 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  also,  that  Christ's  office  as 
Priest  is  expressly  declared  to  be  eternal.  Nothing 
can  be  more  certain  than  that  this  office  pertains  to 
him  as  Mediator,  and  its  exercise  is  one  of  the  functions 
of  his  mediatorial  kingdom.  It  implies  that  its  admin- 
istration is  based  on  the  great  sacrifice  offered  by  him 
for  sin,  the  presentation  of  that  sacrifice  before  his 
Father's  throne  in  behalf  of  his  people,  and  the  sover- 
eign act  of  justification  bestowed  on  them  because  of 
their  acceptance  thereof  by  faith.  But  these  priestly 
offices  of  the  Redeemer  are  never  to  cease.  He  is  "a 
priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek."  He 
"  ever  (Tiavrore)  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them." 
"  The  Son  who  is  consecrated  forever  more,"  etc. 
Heb.  6:6;  7  :  17,  21,  25,  28.  And  in  the  New  Jeru- 
salem itself,  "the  river  of  the  water  of  life,"  the  emblem 
of  the  eternal  blessedness  of  the  saints,  "  proceedeth 
out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamh,^^ — a  recogni- 
tion of  the  priestly  character  of  the  Redeemer  as  the 
everlasting  source  of  life  and  salvation  to  men. 

I  will  cite  only  one  more  passage  bearing  on  this 
topic,  which  it  seems   to   me   is  of  itself  absolutely 


186  tht:  parousia. 

decisive  against  the  common  view.  In  the  twelfth  of 
Hebrews,  the  apostle  is  warning  his  brethren  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  against  the  rejection  of  the  gospel. 
He  reminds  them  of  the  doom  of  those  who  rejected 
the  Mosaic  dispensation  at  Sinai, — a  dispensation  inaug- 
urated by  lightnings  and  earthquakes  in  token  of  the 
awful  presence  of  Jehovah.  "  The  whole  mount 
quaked  greatly."  Ex.  19  :  18.  But  the  new  dispen- 
sation of  the  Messiah  is  grander  than  that  because 
more  abiding.  This  he  proves  from  a  passage  in 
Haggai  2:6.  "  Yet  once  more  I  shake  not  the  earth 
only,  but  also  heaven."  And  this  phrase  he  says, 
"  yet  once  more  " — iu  drra^ — indicates  a  change — 
fierd&eacv — (literally,  a  passing  away)  of  those  things 
that  are  shaken,  as  of  things  that  are  made,  that 
those  things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain."  In 
other  words,  the  divine  arrangement  is  to  be  changed 
but  onee^  i.  e.  when  the  Mosaic  gives  place  to  the 
Messianic, — of  course,  then,  the  latter  is  to  continue 
unchanged.  "  Wherefore,"  he  adds,  "  we  receiving  a 
kingdom  which  cannot  he  moved,  let  us  have  grace 
whereby  we  may  serve  God  acceptably  and  with  godly 
fear."  We  cannot  well  conceive  any  thing  more  deci- 
sive than  this.  Not  only  the  terms  themselves  but 
the  argument  requires  the  perpetuity  of  Christ's  king- 
dom. To  affirm  that  another  metathesis  will  take 
place,  by  which  it  shall  come  to  an  "  end,"  in  the  sense 
of  a  termination,  seems  to  us  to  be,  if  any  thing  can 
be,  an  explicit  contradiction  of  the  inspired  word  of 
God. 

The  conclusion  which  we  have  now  reached  will 


PERPETUITY  OF  CHRISTS  KINGDOM.       187 

doubtless  be  assailed  with  yet  more  confidence  from 
another  quarter^  It  will  be  held  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  doctrine,  supposed  to  be  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures,  of  the  end  of  the  world.  That  certainly 
cannot  be  an  everlasting  kingdom  on  earth,  if  the  earth 
itself  is  to  be  destroyed,  and  the  duration  of  man  upon 
it  in  the  present  order  of  things  is  to  cease.  Let  it 
not  be  considered  improper,  then,  to  inquire  what  the 
Scriptures  really  teach  us  on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  END   OF   THE  WORLD. 

The  phrase  is  not  unfrequently  found  in  the  New 
Testament.  Matt.  13  :  39,  40,  49.  ^'The  harvest  is 
the  end  of  the  world."  Matt.  24  :  3,  '^What  shall  be 
the  sign  of  thy  coming  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ?" 
Matt.  28  :  20,  *'Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world."  Heb.  9 :  26,  "Now  once  in 
the  end  of  the  world  (Gr.  Avorlds),  hath  he  appeared 
to  put  away  sin."  1  Cor.  10  :  11,  "They  are  written 
for  our  admonition  upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world 
(Gr.  worlds)  are  come." 

The  original  word  here  translated  world  is  ahbvy 
which,  as  all  who  are  tolerably  conversant  with  Jew- 
ish phraseology  know,  has  no  reference  to  the  earth  as 
a  planet.  It  is  properly  a  designation  of  time^  nearly 
corresponding  to  our  word  age.  The  Jews  regarded 
all  time  as  divided  into  successive  periods  to  which 
they  applied  this  term,  such  as  that  which  preceded 
creation,  the  ante-diluvian,  the  one  covered  by  the 
duration  of  the  Mosaic  theocracy,  and  that  in  which 
the  Messiah  was  to  reign.  This  is  probably  its  mean- 
ing in  Heb.  1:2;  "By  whom — Christ — he  made  the 
worlds,  i.  e.,  he  established  and  carried  through  the 
orderly  succession  of  the  ages."^   The  last  two  of  these 

*  Tayler  Lewis's  Six  Days  of  Creation,  pp.  353,  355. 

188 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD,  189 

periods  are  most  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Living,  as  the  sacred  writers  did,  under  the 
Mosaic  dispensation,  they  denominated  its  period  as 
"the  aion  that  now  is,"  and  that  of  the  Messiah,  then 
future,  as  "the  aion  that  is  to  come."  The  two  to- 
gether, covering  the  whole  duration  of  the  future,  came 
to  be  equivalent  to  that  duration,  in  other  words, 
everlasting, — as  in  the  declaration,  "Whosever  speaketh 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him, 
neither  in  this  world  (^aion)  neither  in  the  world(azon) 
to  come."  Matt.  11 :  32.  When,  passing  the  boun- 
daries of  time,  they  wished  to  speak  of  eternal  things, 
as  of  the  retributions  of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked, 
or  of  the  existence  of  God,  they  intensified  the  idea  by 
reduplications  of  the  same  word.  "To  him  be  glory 
for  ever  and  ever"  (Gr.  through  ages  of  ages).  Gal. 
1:5;  Phil.  4 :  20  ;  1  Tim.  1 :  IT  ;  1  Peter  5  :  11. 
"They  shall  reign  with  him  forever."  Rev.  22:  5. 
"The  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  forever." 
Rev.  14:  11;  19:  3;  20:  10.  In  Epli.  3:  21,  the 
expression  is  still  more  remarkable.  "Unto  him  be 
glory  in  the  church  by  Christ  Jesus  throughout  all 
ages,  world  without  end," — Gr.  "through  all  gener- 
ations of  the  aion  of  the  aions,"  e/c  r.daa^  rac  yzvefn; 
TOO  auduoc^  rwv  alwvwv.^ 

When  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  therefore,  spoke  of 
the  "end  of  the  world,"  they  used  the  word,  we  can- 
not doubt,  in  the  sense  that  was  customary  in  that  day, 

*  See  an  able  and  most  valuable  exhibition  of  the  import  of 
this  word  in  Prof.  Tayler  Lewis's  "Six  Days  of  Creation,"  pp. 
352-385. 


190  THE  PAEOUSIA. 

the  only  sense  in  which  it  was  possible  to  have 
been  understood  by  those  whom  they  addressed. 
The  parable  of  the  tares,  like  nearly  all  the  others  de- 
livered by  our  Saviour  in  that  stage  of  his  ministry,  was 
designed  to  teach  the  contrast  between  the  coming 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  that  under  which  they  had 
hitherto  lived.  Of  the  latter,  all  were  reckoned  as 
subjects  who  were  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  whether 
strictly  righteous  or  not.  This  was  the  one  ground  of 
pride  and  self-confidence  among  the  Jews  that  con- 
stantly hindered  their  reception  of  the  gospel.  John 
had  to  dash  it  in  pieces  in  those  fearful  words,  "Ye 
brood  of  vipers — think  not  to  say  within  yourselves, 
we  have  Abraham  to  our  father."  A  large  part  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  directed  to  the  same  end. 
So  with  these  parables.  In  the  field  which  God  had 
first  sown  by  Moses  with  good  seed,  the  tares  were 
then  growing  with  the  wheat,  and  in  that  closing  por- 
tion of  the  age  greatly  outnumbered  and  choked  it. 
But  in  the  end  of  that  age,  i.  e.,  under  his  own  new 
kingdom  of  heaven,  a  different  law  would  prevail. 
None  could  be  a  member  of  that  kingdom  but  by  a 
new  birth,  higher  than  any  earthly  pedigree.  John 
3  :  3.  Not  saying,  "Lord,  Lord,"  would  make  one  a 
subject  of  it,  but  doing  the  will  of  God.  Matt.  7  :  21. 
All  others  would  be  gathered  out  of  his  field,  and  cast 
like  a  fruitless  tree  or  winnowed  chaff  into  the  fire. 
This  was  what  Malachi  had  predicted  of  the  times  of 
the  Messiah  (Matt.  3  :  2,  5  ;  4  :  1) — and  John,  when 
preaching  the  near  approach  of  the  kingdom.  Matt. 
3 :  7-12.     To  the  same  effect  was  the  parable  of  the 


THE  END  OF  THE  WOBLD.  191 

drag-net.  And  the  time  and  the  signs  when  this  great 
change  should  take  place, — when  the  old  imperfect 
Jewish  aion  should  be  superseded  by  the  new  spiritual 
aion  to  come,  were  what  the  disciples  inquired  about, 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  after  Christ  had  uttered  his 
denunciations  against  the  city  and  temple,  which  they 
evidently  understood  as  referring  to  that  event.  It 
seems  to  me  plain  that  no  reference  could  have  been 
intended  by  them  to  the  destruction  of  the  earth  as  a 
planet,  or  its  discontinuance  as  an  abode  for  mankind, 
and  no  doctrine  of  that  sort  is  taught  by  the  phrase 
they  used. 

On  the  other  hand,  taking  the  Greek  word  which 
was  used  by  the  sacred  writers  when  they  meant  to 
speak  of  the  earth,  either  as  a  planet,  or  as  the  abode 
of  man— ;^6(T/ioc— we  find  no  "end"  any  where  asserted 
of  it.  Matt.  4  :  8,  "All  the  kingdoms  of  the  world." 
13  :  35,  "From  the  foundation  of  the  world."  Luke 
11 :  5,  "From  the  beginning  of  the  world."  John 
17  :  5,  "Before  the  world  was."  Acts  17 :  24,  "God 
that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein."  Rom. 
1 :  8,  "Your  faith  is  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole 
world,"  etc.  I  repeat  it,  of  the  world  in  this  sense 
— xoa/io^ — no  end  is  ever  asserted  or  implied.  There 
is  no  such  phrase  as  the  end  or  completion  of  the 
x6(T/jLo^.^  And  yet  it  is  in  this  sense  of  the  term  world, 
that  the  phrase  is  commonly  understood.     A  predicate 

*In  2  Pet.  3 :  6  the  word  is  applied  to  the  antediluvian  ''world," 
which  it  is  declared  perished  (apoleto)  in  the  deluge.  Obviously 
it  was  not  the  earth  as  a  planet,  but  its  inhabitants,  that  was 
meant. 


192  THE  PABOUSIA. 

which  belongs  solely  to  one  word  is  without  any  war- 
rant transferred  to  another  of  entirely  different  mean- 
ing, simply  because  both  are  unfortunately  represented 
by  the  same  English  word  "world,"  and  from  this  un- 
authorized combination,  is  made  to  teach  an  idea  which 
probably  never  entered  the  thought  of  any  inspired 
author  whatever. 

There  is,  however,  a  remarkable  passage  in  2  Peter 
3  :  3-13,  which  is  constantly  referred  to  and  relied  up- 
on as  teaching  the  doctrine  before  us  beyond  all  ques- 
tion. "The  heavens  and  the  earth  which  are  now,  by 
the  same  word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire 
against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  ungodly 
men. — The  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise, 
and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the 
earth  also  and  the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be 
burned  up. — The  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat." 

In  endeavoring  to  ascertain  the  meaning  of  this  im- 
portant passage,  it  may  be  remarked : 

1.  That  we  are  not  to  interpret  the  language 
according  to  the  revelations  of  modern  science.  Geol- 
ogy and  Astronomy  have  taught  us  many  facts  as  to 
the  nature  and  history  of  our  globe  and  of  the  material 
universe,  of  which  the  ancients  were  wholly  ignorant. 
They  supposed  the  earth  to  be  a  vast  plain  resting 
upon  immovable  foundations,  (2  Sam.  22  :  16  ;  Job  38  : 
4 ;  Ps.  101 :  5  ;  Prov.  8  :  29  ;  Isa.  24  :  18  ;  40  :  21 ;  51  : 
13;  Jer.  31  :  37  ;  Mic.  6  :  2);  the  heavens  a  "firm- 
ament "  or  solid  expanse,  to  which  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  were  fastened  as  luminous  disks,  and  from  which 


THE  END  OF  THE  WOBLJ).  193 

they  might  be  detached  and  fall  to  the  ground  like 
the  leaves  of  autumn.  Gen.  1:  7,  17;  Isa.  42 :  5  ; 
Job  37 :  18 ;  Rev.  6  :  13,  14.  The  idea  that  these  were 
worlds  or  heavenly  bodies,  in  our  sense  of  these  terms, 
had  then  probably  never  entered  the  mind  of  any  man 
except,  possibly,  some  speculating  student  of  the  stars. 
Hence,  I  cannot  accept  the  translation  given  by  Alford 
of  the  word  "elements,"  as  "the  heavenly  bodies." 
Peter  most  assuredly  knew  nothing  of  any  such  bodies, 
and  could  not  have  meant  to  express  such  an  idea. 

2.  The  passage  cannot  mean  that  the  material 
universe,  or  our  earth  and  its  skies,  is  to  be  annihi- 
lated. For  the  "new  heavens  and  the  new  earth," 
which  the  apostle  says  were  promised  to  succeed,  are 
certainly  the  same  material  world  as  the  present. 
That  promise  is  in  Isa.  65 :  17-25,  which  upon  any 
reasonable  interpretation  is  clearly  something  that  is 
to  be  realized  on  this  existing  earth.  "  It  could  not 
be  demonstrated  from  this  phrase  (burnt  up)"  says  Mr. 
Barnes,  "  that  the  world  would  be  annihilated  by  fire  ; 
it  could  be  proved  only  that  it  will  undergo  important 
changes.  So  far  as  the  action  of  fire  is  concerned, 
the  form  of  the  earth  may  pass  away,  and  its  aspect 
be  changed ;  but  unless  the  direct  power  which  created 
it  interposes  to  annihilate  it,  the  matter  which  now 
composes  it  will  still  be  in  existence.  Whether  it  is 
God's  purpose  to  annihilate  any  portion  of  the  matter 
he  has  made,  does  not  appear  from  his  word."  * 

It  is  sometimes  alleged  that  stars  have  disappeared 
from  the  visible  heavens,-some  apparently  in  a  blaze ; 

"Notes,  2  Pet.  3:10. 


194  THE  PABOUSIA. 

as  if  on  fire,  from  which  it  is  inferred  that  the  same 
thing  may  not  improbably  happen  to  our  sun  and  his 
attending  planets.  To  which  I  reply ;  granting  the 
phenomena  as  described,  they  prove  nothing.  Recent 
astronomy  reveals  vast  numbers  of  periodic  stars ; — i. 
e.,  those  revolving  about  each  other,  or  about  a  com- 
mon center,  and  undergoing  in  consequence  incessant 
variations  in  brightness,  some  even  at  times  becoming 
and  remaining  long  invisible.  These  alternations,  in 
some  instances  of  immense  periods  so  that  there  is  a  to- 
tal disappearance  for  many  centuries  even,  are  no  proof 
of  their  passing  out  of  existence.  And  as  to  the  appear- 
ance of  blazing,  as  if  on  fire,  we  need  but  to  look  at 
our  own  sun,  which  for  unknown  ages  has  literally 
been  thus  on  fire,  glowing  in  the  flames  of  incandes- 
cent hydrogen,  yet  it  is  not  consumed  and  gives  no 
indication  that  it  ever  will  be.'^ 

3.  As  little,  I  think,  does  the  passage  mean  that 
this  world  as  an  abode  for  man,  in  the  natural  order 
of  things,  is  to  be  destroyed.  In  this  sense  of  the 
term  world, — xoa/w::, — as  already  remarked,  the 
Scriptures  never  speak  of  an  "  end  "  of  it. 

We  should  not  forget  that  both  the  author  of  this 

*  Humboldt  protests  against  the  hypothesis  of  destruction, — 
of  the  actual  combustion  of  the  stars  which  have  disappeared. 
"That  which  we  see  no  more,"  he  says,  ''has  not  necessarily 
ceased  to  exist. — The  eternal  play  of  apparent  creation  and 
apparent  destruction  does  not  prove  the  annihilation  of  matter; 
it  is  a  pure  transition  towards  new  forms,  determined  by  the 
action  of  new  forces.  Some  stars  which  have  become  obscure 
may  again  suddenly  become  luminous  by  the  renewal  of  the 
same  conditions  which,  in  the  first  instance,  developed  the 
light."  The  Heavens,  p.  367. 


r     J  THE  END  OF  THE  WOULD.  195 

epistle  and  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed  were  Jews^ 
whose  conceptions  of  the  earth  and  its  history  were 
derived  from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  To  the 
Jews,  this  was  the  one  Book, — we  might  almost  say  the 
onli/  book  of  instruction  on  all  subjects  whatever.  It 
was  their  manual,  not  only  of  theology  and  morals,  but 
of  history  and  science  and  law  and  poetry.  They  read 
and  taught  it  to  their  children  (2  Tim.  3 :  14,  15); 
they  heard  it  read  in  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath 
day.  Luke  4 :  16  ;  Acts  13  :  27  ;  2  Cor.  3  :  15.  Its 
language,  its  figures  of  speech,  its  way  of  conceiving 
and  representing  things,  were  imbibed  with  their 
mother's  milk,  and  were  as  familiar  as  their  own  ver- 
nacular speech.  Of  the  speculations  of  oriental  or 
Grecian  philosophy  few  knew  any  thing  whatever. 
Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Inspiration  might 
not  impart  to  a  Jew  new  truths,  but  even  these  he 
would  express  necessarily  in  modes  and  terms  with 
which  the  nation  was  familiar,  and  without  which  he 
could  not  be  understood.  It  seems  to  me  self-evident, 
then,  that  the  proper  clew  to  the  meaning  of  Peter's 
language  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in 
what  we  know  to  have  been  the  prevailing  opinions  of 
the  Jews  in  that  age. 

Turning  then  to  the  older  Scriptures,  we  find  their 
language  in  respect  to  the  duration  and  destiny  of  the 
earth,  directly  opposite  to  the  assumed  meaning  of  this 
passage.  Ps.  78 :  69.  "  He  built  his  sanctuary  like 
high  places,  like  the  earth  which  he  hath  established 
for  ever."  Ps.  93  :  1.  "  The  world  also  is  established 
that  it  cannot  be  moved."     Ps.  104 :  5.     "  Who  laid 


196  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  foundation  of  the  earth,  that  it  should  not  be 
removed  for  ever."  Ps.  48  :  6.  "  He  hath  established 
them — for  ever  and  ever ;  he  hath  made  a  decree  which 
shall  not  pass."  Eccl.  1 ;  4.  "  One  generation  passeth 
away  and  another  generation  cometh,  but  the  earth 
abideth  for  ever."  Even  in  those  places  where  the 
comparative  transitoriness  of  the  universe  is  used  to 
highten  by  contrast  the  eternity  and  immutability  of 
God,  the  implication  is  the  same.  Ps.  102 :  26,  27. 
"  They — the  earth  and  the  heavens, — shall  perish,  but 
thou  shalt  endure  ;  yea  all  of  them  shall  wax  old  like 
a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them  and 
they  shall  be  changed,  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  shall  have  no  end."  The  meaning  is  that  God's 
eternity  shall  exceed  the  most  eternal  things.  So  with 
the  words  of  Christ,  Matt.  24:  35.  "Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away."  It  is  duration  intensified  by  outrunning 
the  ideal  types  of  unchangeableness.  It  would  be  a 
sorry  anti-climax  to  ascribe  to  the  divine  existence  and 
promises  a  duration  only  exceeding  what  was  confessed- 
ly transient. 

We  have  a  remarkable  confirmation  of  this  view  of 
the  Old  Testament  teachings  in  the  writings  of  Philo. 
He  was  a  learned  Jewish  philosopher  of  Alexandria, 
of  the  priestly  family  of  Aaron,  born  a  few  years 
before  Christ.  His  writings  exercised  a  wide  influence 
over  the  opinions  of  the  Jews.  One  of  his  works  is 
an  elaborate  treatise  on  "  The  Incorruptibility  of  the 
World,"  by  which  he  means  the  perpetuity  of  "  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  and  all  that  is  therein."     We 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  197 

cannot  here  follow  his  peculiar  course  of  reasoning, 
which  he  professes  to  base  upon  the  Scriptures, 
especially  Genesis  I,  but  his  conclusion  is  pertinent 
to  our  topic. 

"  Therefore  we  are  naturally  led  to  conclude  that 
the  whole  earth  will  not  be  dissolved  by  water,  which 
its  bosoms  contain  ;  nor  again  will  fire  be  extinguished 
by  the  air,  nor  again  the  air  be  burnt  up  and  con- 
sumed by  fire,  since  the  divine  law  has  placed  it  as  a 
boundary  to  keep  all  these  elements  distinct  from  one 
another." 

He  represents  Moses  as  saying  in  Genesis  that  the 
world  was  created  indestructible ;  that  days  and 
nights,  and  seasons  and  years,  and  the  sun  and  moon 
which  measure  time,  ^"  having  received  an  immortal 
portion  in  common  with  the  whole  heaven,  continue 
forever  indestructible." 

He  argues  that  if  the  world  is  to  be  destroyed,  it 
must  be  by  some  other  efficient  cause,  or  by  God. 
Not  the  former,  for  there  is  nothing  which  the  world 
does  not  surround  and  contain.  "  On  the  other  hand, 
to  say  that  it  is  destroj^ed  by  God  is  the  most  impious 
of  all  possible  assertions  ;  for  God  is  the  cause  not  of 
disorder  and  irregularity  and  destruction,  but  of  order, 
and  beautiful  regularity,  and  life,  and  of  every  good 
thing,  as  is  confessed  by  all  those  whose  opinions  are 
based  on  truth."     Sect.  16. 

We  may  assert  then  with  confidence,  that  the  very 
impressive  language  of  Peter  could  not  have  been  taken 
by  a  Jew  of  that  day  as  .teaching  the  end  of  this 
material  world.     It  would  be  an  idea  of  which  he  had 


198  THE  PAROUSIA. 

never  heard,  one  whicli  he  would  think  contradicted 
the  Scriptures  themselves,  and  which  in  the  estimation 
of  the  most  learned  men  of  the  nation  was  absolutely 
"  impious." 

And  yet  the  same  phraseology,  understood  in  another 
sense,  was  perfectly  familiar.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
prophecy  by  Isaiah  of  the  overthrow  of  Idumea  for 
her  enmity  to  God's  people.  Its  resemblance  to  that 
used  by  Peter  will  appear  the  closer  if  we  suppose,  as 
is  altogether  probable,  that  he  and  his  brethren  read 
from  the  Septuagint  version.  I  give  the  two,  literally 
translated,  side  by  side. 


ISAIAH34:4,  9,  10. 

AH  the  powers  of  the  heavens 
shaU  be  melted,  and  the  heaven 
shaU  be  roHed  wp  like  a  scroll.— 
And  her  land  shall  be  on  fire  like 
pitch,  night  and  day,  and  shall 
not  be  extinguished  for  ever. 


2  1'ETER3:  10,12. 

The  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise,  the  elements 
being  biirned  shall  be  dissolved. — 
The  heavens  being  on  fire  shall  be 
dissolved  and  the  elements  being 
burned  shall  melt,  and  the  earth 
and  the  works  in  it  shall  be  burned 
up. 


So,  elsewhere,  whenever  the  Lord  appears  to  chas- 
tise wicked  men  and  nations,  his  presence  and  the 
effects  of  it  are  set  forth  in  similar  language.  Ps.  46  : 
6.  "The  earth  and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof  are 
dissolved  ;  I  bear  up  the  pillars  of  it."  Nahum  1 :  6. 
"  The  Lord  hath  his  way  in  the  whirlwind  and  in  the 
storm,  and  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of  his  feet.  The 
mountains  quake  at  him,  and  the  hills  melt,  and 
the  earth  is  burned  at  his  presence,  yea  the  world  and 
they  that  dwell  therein."  Isa.  24  :  19.  "  The  earth 
is  utterly  broken  down ;  the  earth  is  clean  dissolved ; 
the  earth  is  moved  exceedingly."  All  this  language, 
read  habitually  in  private  and  in  the  synagogues, 
taught  the  Jews  the  terrors  of  God's  judgments  upon 


THE  END  OF  THE  WOBLB,  199 

wicked  nations,  but  never  for  a  moment  the  literal 
end  of  the  world.  Could  Peter,  without  a  word  of 
explanation,  have  used  it  in  a  different  sense  ? 

4.  I  understand,  then,  his  reference  to  have  been  to 
the  well  known  Jewish  idea  of  ''Hhe  aion  that  now  is;" 
in  other  words,  to  the  system  of  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion as  already  explained.  Let  the  following  particulars 
be  noted. 

(1).  That  aion,  or  world,  was  to  pass  away.  It 
was  to  be  destroyed  totally  and  forever.  So  with  "  the 
hieavens  and  the  earth  "  in  Peter.  Prof.  Stuart  well 
objects  to  the  common  idea  of  a  reconstructed  earth, 
to  arise  from  the  ruins  of  the  old  one  after  it  shall 
have  been  dissolved  and  purified  by  fire.  "  This  new 
heaven  and  new  earth  are  not  to  be  constructed  by 
fitting  up  and  vamping  anew  the  old  and  worn  out 
systems.  The  first  heavens  and  earth  pass  away.'*'* 
Com.  Apoc.  21 :  1. 

(2).  That  aion  was  to  perish  with  a  great  noise. 
There  was  to  be  the  "  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,"  and 
the  wail  of  ''all  the  tribes  of  the  earth,"  the  "falling 
of  the  stars  from  heaven,"  and  the  shaking  of  "  the 
powers  of  the  heavens."  Matt,  24:  29-31.  There 
was  in  literal  verity  the  terrible  crash  of  a  burning 
city,  the  overthrow  of  palaces  and  temples  and  walls, 
the  despairing  cries  of  the  dying,  and  the  triumphant 
shouts  of  the  victors.  Taken  both  figuratively  and 
literally,  no  single  word  could  better  describe  the  over- 
throw of  the  Jewish  temple,  city,  and  nation,  with  all 
their  venerated  and  once  divine  institutions  than  that 
used  by  Peter — ^oc^r^dov. 


200  THE  PAROUSIA. 

(3).  That  aion  was  to  expire  amid  the  same  sort  of 
physical  phenomena  described  by  Peter, — the  wonders 
in  heaven  above,  and  signs  in  the  earth  beneath,  blood 
and  fire,  and  vapor  of  smoke,  the  extinguished  sun  and 
moon,  etc.  (Acts  2 :  19,  20).  Who  can  doubt  that 
all  these  have  the  same  signification  in  both  cases  ? 
What  clearer  demonstration,  therefore,  that  the  events 
of  which  these  are  the  concomitants  are  the  same  ? 

(4).  For  the  time  being,  that  aion  was  ''^reserved 
unto  jirey  The  word  translated  reserved  is,  literally, 
treasured  up^  something  kept  for  a  certain  time  or 
use.  Now,  this  was  precisely  what  John  was  commis- 
sioned to  preach, — that  the  old  dispensation  was  just 
going  to  give  place  to  the  new  kingdom,  and  the  old 
fruitless  trees,  the  worthless  chaff  of  the  old  threshing 
floor,  were  then  to  be  given  to  the  fire.  The  parable 
of  the  tares  shows  the  field,  with  its  mixed  crop  of 
good  and  bad,  spared  for  a  little  while  unto  the  harvest 
at  the  "  end  "  of  "  this  aion,"  when  the  tares  shall  be 
gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire.  Matt.  13  :  40.  The 
drag-net  shows  the  wicked  at  "the  end  of  this  age" 
cast  into  the  furnace  of  fire.  In  both  of  the  particulars 
-that  the  end  of  each  world  was  to  be  "fire,"  and  that 
each  for  a  brief  space  longer  was  treasured  or  kept  for 
that  destination,-the  parallel  between  the  two  is  per- 
fect. 

(5).  Both  the  "  aion"  that  now  is  and  the  "  end  of 
this  world "  should  be  at  the  Parousia  of  Christ. 
Matt.  24 :  3.  2  Pet.  3 :  4.  That  "  the  day  of  the 
Lord,"  in  verse  10,  was  the  thing  which  the  scoffers 
derided  when  they  asked  where  was  the  promise  of 
his  Parousia,  is  too  obvious  to  need  proof. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  201 

(6).  They  were  both,  therefore,  in  like  manner 
near,  and  objects  for  watching  and  expectation.  It 
was  because  it  had  not  already  come,  Peter  says,  that 
the  scoffers  derided  the  expectation  of  it.  Nevertheless, 
he  says,  it  will  surely  come,  and  bids  his  readers  to  be 
looking  for  and  hastening  it.  As  heretofore  remarked, 
this  implies  the  near  approach  of  the  event,  for  it  is 
impossible  to  be  watching  and  waiting  for  what  is 
thousands  of  years  distant. 

(7).  The  dissolving  of  '''the  elements  ^^  mentioned 
by  Peter  points  to  the  same  event  as  the  end  of  the 
aion.  The  original  word-^ro;;^£?'«-occurs  elsewhere  in 
the  New  Testament  five  times,  and  in  all  with  nearly 
the  same  meaning.  Two  of  them  are  in  Gal.  4 :  3  and 
9.  "  We,  when  we  were  children,  were  in  bondage 
under  the  elements  of  the  world."  "  How  turn  ye 
again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements  whereunto  ye 
desire  again  to  be  in  bondage  ?"  This  clearly  refers 
to  the  imperfect  rites  and  doctrines  of  the  Jewish  law. 
Alford  saj'S,  "All  the  enactments  peculiar  to  the  law, 
some  of  which  are  expressly  named,  verse  10."  The 
next  two  instances  are  in  Col.  2 :  8,  20.  "Beware, 
lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain 
deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments 
of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ."  "If  ye  be  dead 
with  Christ  from  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  why  as 
though  living  in  the  world  are  ye  subject  to  ordi- 
nances," etc,  "Ritualistic  observances,"  says  Alford. 
The  only  remaining  instance  is  Heb.  5  :  12,  "Ye 
have  need  that  one  teach  you  again  which  be  the  first 
principles  of  the  oracles  of  God."  Here  the  reference 
10 


202  THE  PAROUSIA. 

is  not  to  the  Mosaic  law,  but  to  the  elementary  truths 
of  Christianity,  though  the  same  idea  of  what  is  rudi- 
mentary and  imperfect  is  still  implied.  Now  Peter 
says  that  in  the  Parousia,  or  day  of  the  Lord,  the  ele- 
ments shall  be  dissolved.  What  can  this  be  but  that 
the  imperfect  ritual  and  doctrinal  system  of  Judaism, 
to  which  the  early  Hebrew  converts  were  once  in 
bondage  and  were  ever  trying  to  go  back,  should  be 
wholly  abolished  ?  They  were  the  chaff  and  stubble 
of  the  old  system,  which  should  be  burned  up  at  the 
introduction  of  the  new  and  higher  kingdom  of  Christ. 

(8).  TJie  events  attending  the  end  of  the  aion 
seem  to  be  described  by  the  Apocalyptist  in  Rev.  6  : 
12-17,  in  language  almost  identical  with  that  of  Peter. 
"  Lo  there  was  a  great  earthquake,  and  the  sun  became 
black  as  sackcloth  of  hair,  and  the  moon  became  as 
blood,  and  the  stars  of  heaven  fell  unto  the  earth,  even 
as  a  fig-tree  casteth  her  untimely  figs  when  she  is 
shaken  of  a  mighty  wind.  And  the  heaven  departed 
as  a  scroll  when  it  is  rolled  together,  and  every  moun- 
tain and  island  were  removed  out  of  their  places."  I 
cannot  doubt  that  this  refers  to  the  same  subject, — the 
distresses  that  were  to  come  upon  Jerusalem  and  Pal- 
estine before  and  at  the  destruction  of  the  city;  but 
whether  this  interpretation  be  accepted  or  not  is  not 
important  here.  That  the  language  does  not  describe 
the  end  of  the  world  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  a  long 
series  of  events  in  human  history  is  represented  as 
following  after  it. 

I  do  not,  then,  find  the  doctrine  of  the  end  of  the 
world,  either  as  a  planet  or  as  the  scene  of  human  life 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  203 

and  probation,  taught  in  the  Scriptures.  As  read 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  sacred  writers  and  of 
the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and  with  conceptions  of 
the  divine  arrangements  such  as  they  had  been  taught, 
we  find  only  intimations  of  moral  revolutions  which 
were  to  introduce  the  new  kingdom  of  Christ,  attended, 
indeed,  with  unparalleled  sufferings  on  the  part  of  the 
guilty  nation  who  refused  to  receive  him  as  their  King, 
but  not  implying  changes  in  the  structure  of  the 
physical  universe,  or  any  end,  however  remote,  of  the 
duration  of  a  kingdom  inaugurated  in  a  manner  so 
imposing. 

And  with  these  conclusions  from  Scripture  harmon- 
ize, we  believe,  both  reason  and  science.  Often  has 
the  question  thrust  itself  upon  our  thought,  why  should 
this  world  cease  ?  It  is  a  theater  which  affords  to  the 
higher  orders  of  intelligence  the  grandest  displays  of 
the  divine  wisdom  and  goodness.  "  We  are  made  a 
spectacle  to  the  world  [the  universe] — to  angels  and 
to  men."  "  Into  these  things  the  angels  desire  to 
look."  Neither  the  efficacy  nor  the  glory  of  the  cross 
of  Jesus  will  ever  cease.  The  sacrifice  for  sin  here 
offered  was  "  offered  forever."  Heb.  10 :  12.  The 
priesthood  he  assumed  was  an  unchangeable  one.  The 
divine  Comforter  who  is  given  to  renew  and  sanctify 
souls  is  to  abide  with  us  for  ever.  John  14  :  16.  If 
the  existence  of  man,  as  shown  by  his  creation,  was 
"good"  (Gen.  1 :  31,) — a  work  over  which  "the  morn- 
ing stars  sang  together  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy  "(Job  38  :  7) — ;  if  there  is  joy  in  the  presence 
of  the  angels  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth ;  if  it  be 


204  THE  PABOUSIA. 

a  source  of  satisfaction  to  the  heart  of  the  Saviour  to 
see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  to  bring  many  sons 
unto  glory  ;  why  should  that  which  so  fills  the  universe 
and  its  Creator  with  joy  ever  be  brought  to  an  end  ? 
Let  it  have  continued  six  thousand  years,  or  a  million 
times  six  thousand,  is  there  any  conceivable  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  continued  still  as  long  again  ? 
If  the  preceding  period  brought  joy  and  glory  to  God, 
will  not  the  succeeding  one  ?  Will  the  Creator  ever 
be  weary  of  creating  souls  ?  Will  the  Spirit  ever  tire 
of  new-creating?  Will  heaven  be  too  full  of  the 
redeemed  ?  Will  the  universe  be  too  full  of  happiness  ? 
Rather,  let  us  enlarge  our  conceptions  of  the  scale  of 
Jehovah's  working,  and  of  the  magnitude  of  the  king- 
dom which  he  has  established  in  his  Son ;  and  let  our 
raptured  ascription  be  "  unto  Him  that  is  able  to  do 
abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according 
to  the  power  which  worketh  in  us, — unto  Him  be 
glory  in  the  church  by  Christ  Jesus  through  all  gen- 
erations of  the  aion  of  the  aions.^^     Eph.  1 :  20,  21. 

Nor  do  I  know  any  thing  in  science  opposed  to  this 
conclusion.  It  is  often  argued,  indeed,  that  the  future 
dissolution  of  the  earth  by  fire  is  made  probable  by 
the  fact  that  it  was  once,  in  a  by-gone  geologic  age,  a 
molten  mass,  and  that  the  numerous  volcanoes  still 
evince  the  existence  of  liquid  fires  within  it.  But 
God's  works  are  progressive,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  processes  by  which  the  earth  was 
brought  from  primeval  chaos  to  be  a  mundus, — a 
world  of  order  and  beauty  for  the  abode  of  man,  are 
to  be  repeated,  in  this  later   stage  of  its   existence. 


THE  END  OF  THE  WORLD.  .     205 

Doubtless  the  earth  contains  within  itself  forces 
adequate  to  its  own  dissolution,  if  such  were  the  order 
of  nature  or  of  God.  But  so  might  the  autumn,  if 
God  willed  it,  arrest  its  fruit-maturing  work  and  go  to 
blossoming  again.  So  might  a  man,  by  miracle,  enter 
the  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb  and  be  born. 
But  because  nature  has  had  her  births  is  she  never  to 
be  sure  of  her  maturity  ?  Is  it  her  law  to  go  back- 
ward ?  Is  there  to  be  a  reversed  Genesis  written  at 
the  close  of  the  Revelation? 

But  our  business,  at  present,  is  theology  not  natural 
science.  It  is  to  ask  what  is  taught  by  the  Bible,  not 
by  astronomy.  Even  if  it  shall  ultimately  be  made 
probable,  as  a  deduction  of  the  nebular  hypothesis, 
that  the  earth,  by  the  process  of  cooling,  will  cease  to 
be  habitable,  as  the  moon  is  supposed  to  be  already,  it 
would  prove  nothing  to  the  purpose.  Of  such  a  theory 
the  sacred  writers  could  have  known  nothing,  and 
therefore  asserted  nothing.  That  result,  if  conceded, 
must  be  at  such  a  distance  as  to  be  practically  infinite. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  since  man  was  placed  on 
the  earth  the  temperature  of  this  planet  has  dimin- 
ished by  a  single  degree.  Doubtless  there  was  a  time 
when  a  tropical  climate  reached  far  towards  the  poles ; 
so  there  was  a  period  when  the  polar  ices  extended 
near  to  the  tropics.  Astronomical  cycles  are,  in  such 
an  inquiry  as  this,  equivalent  to  eternities.  Concede 
in  regard  to  them  whatever  you  will, — whatever  in 
the  progress  of  science  may  be  ultimately  demonstra- 
ted, it  will  still  remain  true  that  the  Bible  affirms 
nothing   concerning  them,   and   that,   if  not  in  the 


206  THE  PAROUSIA. 

strictest  mathematical  sense,  yet  in  the  spiritual  and 
practical  one,  the  earth,  this  home  of  man,  the  theater 
of  redemption  and  salvation,  "abideth  for  ever,"  and 
that  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  there  shall  be  "  no 
end." 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  NEW  JERUSALEM. 

The  revelation  which  the  seer  on  Patmos  was  com- 
missioned to  make  to  his  brethren  of  the  seven 
churches,  to  show  unto  them  "  things  which  must 
shortly  come  to  pass,"  closes  with  the  vision  of  the 
New  Jerusalem.  Our  survey  of  the  work  of  Christ 
as  King  would  not  be  complete  without  a  brief  inquiry 
as  to  the  import  of  this  city,  and  its  relations  to  his 
kingdom. 

That  the  New  Jerusalem  is  a  symbolic  representa- 
tion of  the  Christian  church,  or  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  the  Messiah,  in  some  aspect  of  it,  is  universally 
believed.  But  when  we  ask  in  what  aspect,  and  in 
what  supposed  period  of  it,  we  find  a  great  variet}^  of 
opinions.  Some  regard  it  as  a  symbol  of  the  church 
in  the  millennium,  or  latter-day  glory.  Some,  among 
whom  is  Alford,  assign  it  to  the  period  after  the  Gen- 
eral Judgment,  as  "  descriptive  of  the  consummation 
of  the  triumph  and  bliss  of  Christ's  people  with  him 
in  the  eternal  kingdom  of  God.  This  eternal  king- 
dom is  situated  on  the  purified  and  renewed  earth, 
become  the  blessed  habitation  of  God  with  his  glori- 
fied people."'  Some  suppose  it  to  be  a  representation 
of  heaven. 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  we  bear  in  mind  the  objects 

207 


208  THE  PAROUSIA. 

for  which,  and  the  circumstaDces  in  which,  this  book 
was  written,  together  with  certain  indications  which 
are  given  in  the  description  itself,  we  shall  find  a  clew 
to  its  import  which  we  may  accept  with  some  firm 
confidence  that  it  is  the  ct^rrect  one.  Let  us  remem- 
ber that  at  that  date  the  church,  or  visible  Christian- 
ity, was  relatively  small  and  feeble.  The  eighteen 
centuries  of  history  which  have  familiarized  it  to  us 
in  its  vast  extent  and  power  had  not  yet  existed.  It 
was,  at  that  moment,  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire 
which  ruled  the  world.  Its  adherents  were  few  and 
poor  and  weak.  It  was  a  question  whether  Christian- 
ity itself  was  not  on  the  point  of  extinguishment,  as 
a  light  divinely  kindled,  indeed,  but  unable  to  sur- 
vive in  the  murky  atmosphere  and  under  the  fierce 
tempests  of  a  hostile  world.  We  can  readily  imagine 
the  misgivings  which  might  have  crept  over  the  minds 
of  the  suffering  saints  as  they  contemplated  these 
things,-the  secret  question  which  would  steal  into  their 
thoughts  whether  they  were  not  throwing  themselves 
away  ;  whether  it  would  not  turn  out  that  they  were 
following  a  delusion  which  would  soon  come  to  nought ; 
and  whether,  therefore,  it  would  not  be  wiser  for  them 
to  make  peace  with  their  persecutors,  submit  them- 
selves to  the  authority  of  the  Emperor,  and  be  restored 
to  ease  and  comfort.  In  such  circumstances,  what 
could  be  more  potent  to  reassure  their  faith  than  the 
lifting  by  a  divine  hand  of  the  curtain  of  the  future, 
and  showing  them  in  a  grand  scenic  picture  what  the 
church  of  Grod  was  to  be  when  seen  as  a  whole^  as  out- 
lined in  the  plan  and  purpose  of  its  Lord.     So  Moses, 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM.  209 

before  his  death,  haying  forfeited  his  right  to  enter 
Canaan,  was  yet,  in  order  to  strengthen  his  faith  and 
confirm  his  joy  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise  to  his 
people,  permitted  to  ascend  the  lofty  mountain-top  and 
look  off  thence  upon  the  goodly  land  in  its  length 
and  breadth,  that  he  might  for  once  feast  his  eye  with 
the  anticipated  beauty  and  glory  of  that  which  had  so 
long  filled  his  thoughts,  and  been  the  goal  of  all  his 
desires. 

If  this  view  of  the  purport  of  this  vision  be  correct, 
it  will  suggest  to  us  the  error  of  making  the  heavenly 
city  symbolic  of  auT/  particular  period  in  the  history 
of  the  church.  I  would  rather  see  in  it  that  church 
as  a  whole  ;  its  foundations  already  laid  in  the  "  twelve 
apostles  of  the  Lamb,"  and  its  completion  to  be 
reached  only  in  the  grand  consummation  of  the  future. 
It  does  seem  to  me,  however,  that  it  is  the  church  on 
earth  that  is  meant,  and  not  in  the  heavenly  world. 

1.  This  appears  to  be  required  by  the  designations 
of  time  which  are  expresslj"  given  in  connection  with 
it.  Not  to  insist  upon  the  general  statement  in  the 
title  of  the  book,  that  it  referred  to  things  which 
"  must  shortly  come  to  pass,"  we  find  the  same  decla- 
ration repeated  immediately  after  the  description  of 
the  city,  and  with  manifest  reference  to  it.  "  And  he 
said  unto  me,  these  sayings  are  faithful,  and  true,  and 
the  Lord  God  of  the  holy  prophets  sent  his  angel  to 
shew  unto  his  servants  the  things  which  must  shortly 
— ^v  rdyBt — be  done."  Ch.  22  :  6.  I  cannot  think 
that  this  phrase  can  justly  be  applied  to  what  should 
be   thousands   of   years   distant.      If   language   was 


210  THE  PABOUSIA. 

designed  to  communicate  an  intelligible  idea,  it  must, 
if  not  otherwise  qualified,  be  that  idea  which  its  terms 
naturally  signify,  and  these  certainly  imply  that  the  ful- 
fillment, at  least  in  its  beginning,  was  then  near  at  hand. 
2.  The  language  under  which  it  is  described  shows 
its  correspondence  with  prophecies  which  we  know 
related  to  Christianity  as  a  whole,  or  the  coming  king- 
dom of  the  Messiah.  The  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth  must  be  the  same  that  were  predicted  by  Isaiah 
(ch.  65  :  17 ;  6Q  :  22),  which  most  certainly  had  that 
reference.  Says  Mr.  Barnes,  "  There  can  be  no  doubt, 
I  think,  that  this  refers  to  the  times  of  the  Messiah. — 
It  is  adapted,  not  only  to  comfort  the  ancient  afflicted 
people  of  God,  but  it  contains  most  important  and 
cheering  truth  in  regard  to  the  final  prevalence  of  true 
religion,  and  the  state  of  the  world  when  the  gospel 
shall  every  where  prevail."  The  city  itself  is  identical 
with  the  temple  and  city  seen  by  Ezekiel,  as  is  appar- 
ent, not  only  from  the  general  cast  of  it,  but  from  the 
numerous  minute  resemblances  in  the  two  descrip- 
tions. Compare  its  quadrilateral  shape ;  the  three  gates 
on  each  side  bearing  the  names  of  the  tribes  of  Israel ; 
the  river  flowing  out  of  the  sanctuary ;  the  vital  effi- 
cacy of  its  waters ;  the  trees  growing  on  either  side ; 
their  monthly  yield  of  fruit ;  their  unfading  leaves, 
with  life  giving  qualities ;  the  name  of  the  city, 
denoting  the  dwelling  place  of  Jehovah,^  etc.     "  All," 

^For  the  ever  open  gates,  tlie  bringing  in  of  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  the  Gentile  nations  and  kings,  the  absence  of  sun  and 
moon,  their  places  being  supplied  by  the  Lord  himself,  etc., 
the  pattern  seems  to  be  Isa.  60:  11-19, — one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  prophecies  relating  to  the  Messianic  times. 


THE  NEW  JEB  U SALEM.  211 

says  Prof.  Cowles  of  the  former,  "  every  several  thing, 
provides  for  the  great  central  fact,  and  adjusts  itself 
around  that  living  truth — Jehovah  dwelling  forever, 
and  forever  nianifesting  himself  among  his  chosen; 
he  their  God,  and  tliey  his  people.  Prophetically,  it 
looks  doivn  the  Christian  age  to  its  great  central  truth, 
— the  Lord  by  his  divine  Spirit  making  his  abode 
through  all  ages  in  the  hearts  of  his  children." 

So,  also,  the  promises  given  to  the  happy  inmates  of 
the  city, — tears  wiped  away  (compare  Isa.  25  :  8);  no 
more  death  (ibid.);  no  more  sorrow  nor  crying  (Isa. 
65  :  19);  all  things  made  new ;  (Isa.  65  :  17).  Surely, 
it  ought  not  to  be  doubted  that  this  later  prophecy, 
evidently  so  minutely  modeled  after  the  earlier  one, 
meant  the  same  thing.  It  was  not  a  servile  imitation, 
but  an  embellished  and  emphasized  repetition  of  it, 
which  every  reader  familiar  with  the  inspired  language 
would  recognize  at  once,  and  accept  as  a  renewal  and 
confirmation  of  the  blessed  assurances  given  therein. 

3.  The  relations  of  this  city  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  imply  its  co-existence  with  the  present  order  of 
things.  The  nations^  and  their  kings  still  remain. 
Ch.  21 :  24,  26  ;  22 :  2.  It  may  be  questioned  what  is 
the  precise  meaning  of  the  "  nations "  here.  The 
original — r«  i(%r^ — is  the  well  known  Jewish  phrase 
denoting  the  Gentiles.  When  standing  without  qual- 
ification, it  almost  always  has  that  meaning.  For 
example,  see  Acts  15 :  3,  7,  12,  14,  17,  19,  23.  Many 
of  the    ablest   expositors    (Ewald,   deWette,   Bleek, 

■■The  words   ''of  tlie  saved,"   in  our  English  version,    are 
unwarranted. 


212  THE  PAROUSIA. 

etc.) 9  so  understand  it  in  this  place.  The  words  "in 
the  light "  of  it  are,  properly,  "  through  its  light " — 
did  Tou  (pcoTo^ — as  denoting  the  instrument  or  means 
by  which  they  are  enabled  to  walk.  Thus  interpreted, 
the  sentiment  is  the  same  as  in  Isa.  2:2;  60 :  3 ;  viz. 
that  the  church  of  God  should  be  an  instructor  of  the 
Gentile  nations  in  the  truths  of  religion.  Nor  is  the 
idea  essentially  different  if  the  phrase  be  not  confined 
to  the  Gentiles,  but  made  of  general  application. 
Alford  translates  the  passage  "  And  the  nations  shall 
walk  by  means  of  the  light  of  it."  The  same  thing 
is  implied  in  the  leaves  of  the  tree  of  life  being  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations.  What  nations  remain  to 
be  healed  in  heaven,  or  after  the  day  of  judgment? 
The  ever  open  gates  must  denote  the  Ireeness  of  sal- 
vation to  all  who  will  accept  the  offers  borne  to  them 
by  the  church.  Isa.  60 :  9.  The  gifts  brought  by 
kings  and  by  the  nations  must  denote  the  glad  homage 
which  the  world,  subjected  to  Christ,  shall  offer  to  his 
cause  and  kingdom,  which  is  so  vividly  portrayed  by 
Isaiah.     Ch.  60  :  3-16. 

"See  barbarous  nations  at  thy  gates  attend,  . 

Walk  in  thy  light,  and  in  thy  temple  bend ; 

See  thy  bright  altars  thronged  with  prostrate  kings, 

And  heaped  with  products  of  Sabaean  springs ! 

For  thee  Idumea's  spicy  forests  blow, 

And  seeds  of  gold  in  Ophir's  mountains  glow. 

See  Heaven  his  sparkling  portals  wide  display 

And  break  upon  thee  in  a  flood  of  day !" 

All  this  varied  imagery  fitly  describes  the  perpetual 
office  of  the  church  to  be  a  herald  of  salvation  to  the 
world  (ch.  22 :  7),  and  to  receive  from  it  in   return 


THE  NEW  JER  U SALEM.  213 

the  grateful  homage  due  to  it  and  to  the  Lord  who 
dwells  within  it. 

4.  It  is  declared  that  without  the  city  are  "  dogs, 
and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  murderers,  and 
idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie." 
This  is  usually  understood  of  the  fact  that  the  wicked 
are  confined  in  the  place  of  punishment.  It  may  be 
that  such  Avas  the  intended  meaning,  but  it  seems 
more  natural  to  refer  it  to  their  exclusion  from  the 
church  here  on  earth,  a  meaning  parallel  with  that  of 
Gal.  5:  19-21.  The  word  "without"  apparently 
denotes  the  territory  round  about  the  city,  and  the 
persons  named  represent,  as  Stuart  remarks,  ''the  lead- 
ing characteristics  of  the  heathen  persecutors."  The 
figure  suggests  the  condition  of  the  church,  under  the 
indwelling  protection  of  the  Lord,  safe  within  its  angel- 
guarded  walls,  while  its  malignant  and  unclean  foes 
are  driven  away  into  the  outlying  regions  of  sin  and 
death. 

But  while  the  immediate  design  in  the  description 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  is  to  show  forth  the  glory  and 
felicity  of  the  church  of  God  on  earth,  when  viewed 
as  a  whole,  there  seems  also  to  be  a  tacit  reference  to 
the  further  glory  of  its  eternal  reward  in  heaven. 
For  the  blessed  kingdom  of  Christ  includes  both 
worlds,  the  earthly  as  the  vestibule  and  pledge  of  the 
heavenly.  The  earthly  would  not  be  complete  with- 
out the  heavenly.  "  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope 
in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable."  It  is 
the  church  in  its  perfected  holiness  and  crowned  with 
the  hope  of  heavenly  immortality  that  constitutes  the 


214  THE  PAR 0  USIA. 

city  of  God  the  object  of  his  delight,  and  the  temple 
in  which  he  will  dwell,  whose  name  is  "  the  Lord  is 
there." 

Thus  viewed,  the  inspired  vision  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem stands  before  his  people  in  all  ages  as  their  encour- 
agement to  faith  and  service.  It  bids  them  never  be 
faint-hearted  ;  never  to  be  weary  either  in  suffering  or 
doing.  As  the  builder  with  brick  or  stone  needs  to 
look  often  at  the  plan  of  the  edifice  upon  which  he 
labors,  that  he  may  catch  the  inspiration  of  its  sym- 
metry and  beauty,  so  may  the  Christian  worker  here 
behold  the  end  to  which  all  his  toil  and  pains  are 
directed.  Christ  is  building  his  church,  the  capital  of 
his  kingdom.  However  slow  the  progress,  whatever 
enmities  or  obstacles  may  hinder,  it  is  ever  going  for- 
ward, and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  never  prevail  against 
it.  Blessed  are  all  they  who  work  with  their  Lord  in 
this  undertaking.  Blessed  are  they  who  see  its  glories 
by  faith,  and  desire  to  share  them.  Thrice  blessed 
they  who  are  washing  their  robes,  that  they  may  have 
right  to  the  tree  of  life  and  may  enter  in  through  the 
gates  into  the  city. 


PART   III. 


CHRIST   AS   LIFE-GIVER 


The  reign  of  Christ  as  King  is  over  a  realm  deliv- 
ered from  death.  The  one  great  fact  in  which  his 
whole  redemptive  work  is  founded  is,  that  man  is  a 
fallen  being.  Death  hath  passed  apon  all  men,  for 
that  all  have  sinned.  Rom.  5 :  12.  It  is  not  alone 
that  they  are  guilty  because  of  their  transgression  of 
God's  law ;  it  is  not  alone  that  they  have  forfeited  his 
favor,  and  come  under  condemnation.  The  race  has 
lost  by  sin  the  power  of  self  recovery.  The  vital 
impulse  to  holy  feeling,  purpose,  and  action  has  been 
destroyed,  and  unless  replaced  by  a  divine  power  not 
inferior  to  that  of  the  first  creation,  cannot  be  kind- 
led again.  Hence  the  oft  repeated  Scripture  testimony 
that  men,  in  their  fallen  state,  are  dead^ — "dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins."  Rom.  6  :  2.  Eph.  2 :  1,  5.  Col. 
2:13. 

It  was,  then,  one  of  the  chief  functions  of  the  glo- 
rified and  reigning  Redeemer  to  give  life  to  a  world 
lying  in  death.  "I  am  come,"  said  he,  "that  they 
might   have  life."      John   10:    10.     He   is   declared 

215 


216  THE  PABOUSIA. 

emphatically  to  be  "the  Life,"  (John  1 :  4)  i.  e.,  having 
in  himself  the  concrete  office  and  power  to  impart  it 
to  men.  "  As  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath 
he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself  "  (John 
6 ;  26),  i.  e.,  to  be  a  new  source  of  life  to  all  who 
should  receive  him.  And  in  this  capacity,  under 
numerous  suggestive  figures,  he  offers  himself  to  man- 
kind. "  I  am  the  bread  of  life."  John  6 :  48.  ''  I 
will  give  my  flesh  for  the  life  of  the  world."  John  6  : 
51.  "  The  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him 
a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life." 
John  4 :  14.  "  As  the  Father  raiseth  up  the  dead  and 
quickeneth  them,  even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom 
he  will."     John  5  :  21,  etc. 

It  is  in  this  office  of  Life-Giver  that  Christ  styles 
himself  the  Wvaozaac^^ — the  Resurrection.  That 
office  must  be  co-extensive  with  the  ruin  which  had  been 
wrought  by  sin,  and  this  included  the  bodies  as  well 
as  souls  of  men.  Man's  whole  nature,  the  corporeal 
as  well  as  spiritual,  had  fallen  under  the  power  of 
death,  and  must  therefore  be  reached  by  the  new  life 
which  Christ  came  to  impart.  Hence  that  sublime 
declaration  addressed  to  the  weeping  sisters  of  Beth- 
any, and  through  them  to  all  the  bereaved  in  all  time ; 
"  I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  ;  he  that  believ- 
eth  in  me  even  though  he  have  died  (dnod^dvr^ — past), 
shall  live,  and  he  that  is  alive  (in  the  flesh)  and  believe th 
in  me  shall  never  die."     John  11 :  25,  26. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  ANASTASIS. 

It  is  not  within  the  design  of  this  work  to  dwell 
upon  the  doctrine  of  regeneration.  It  is  one  of  the 
usual  topics  of  religious  truth,  which  are  familiar  to 
all.  I  pass  this  by,  then,  and  proceed  at  once  to  the 
other  great  work  of  Christ  as  Life-giver,  viz.  the  Res- 
urrection. 

The  word  itself — dudcFzaaii:,  standing  again — sug- 
gests the  primary  idea  involved  in  it.  The  act  of 
dying  nearly  always  occurs  in  a  recumbent  posture ; 
man  lies  down  in  death.  To  stand  up  again,  therefore, 
would  naturally  express  the  idea  of  a  restoration  to 
life,  a  second  life  occurring  after  death. 

Assuming  now  the  fact  of  such  a  second  life,  and 
waiving  for  the  present  the  question  of  the  time  when 
it  commences,  our  first  inquiry  will  be  as  to  the  nature 
of  that  life.  What  will  it  be? — or  in  other  words, 
what  will  live  again  F 

1.  It  will  be  the  spirit  of  man,  his  intellectual  and 
moral  nature,  that  which  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God,  and  by  virtue  of  which  he  is  enabled  to  have 
communion  with  God,  and  become  a  citizen  of  heaven. 

2.  It  will  be,  in  some  sense,  the  bodg  of  man. 
This  is  one  of  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
The  future  existence  of  the  soul  was  taught  even  by 

217 


218  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  heathen  sages  but  most  of  them  knew  nothing  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  body/'^  As  already  remarked, 
the  salvation  provided  for  man  by  Christ  extends  to 
all  the  elements  of  his  being.  The  invisible,  post- 
mortal world  is  not  like  that  described  by  the  poets,  a 
realm  of  umbrce — pale,  passionless  ghosts,  but  one  in 
which  man's  whole  nature  has  place,  with  room  for  all 
its  purified  capacities  and  activities  to  expatiate  in  and 
to  grow  forever. 

But  a  deeper  and  more  important  question  here 
arises,  viz  :      What  is  the  body  ? 

Of  course,  we  recognize  under  this  term  that  natu- 
ral structure  of  bones  and  flesh  and  blood,  which  is 
common  to  man  with  the  brute  creation.  It  is  a  mass 
of  solids  and  fluids,  with  their  chemical  properties,  de- 
rived originally  from  the  earth  and  destined  to  return 
to  it.  This,  in  ordinary  speech,  is  what  we  mean  by 
the  body.  But  is  this  all  ?  A  fruit  is,  in  common 
acceptation,  the  mass  of  pulpy  or  farinaceous  material 
gathered,  commonly,  around  the  germ^  to  serve  as  tem- 
porary food  for  the  young  plant  that  is  to  spring  from 
that  germ.  In  more  exact  speech,  the  germ  alone  is 
the  real  fruit ;  the  rest  is  matter  auxiliary  to  it,  de- 
signed to  meet  its  wants  in  the  initial  stage  of  its  ex- 
istence, and  after  that,  if  not  thus  absorbed,  to  decay 
and  cease  to  be.  Is  there,  then,  within  this  natural 
body,  a  germ,  or  elementar}^  principle,  not  identical 
with  a  vegetable  seed  but  analogous  to  it,  which,  in 

*  Perhaps  the  Egyptians  should  be  excepted,  whose  practice 
of  embalming  the  dead  seems  to  point  to  the  hope  of  another 
life. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE.  219 

strictness  of  speech  is  the  real  body,  and  to  which  this 
mass  of  earthly  materials  sustains  a  temporary  rela- 
tion, subservient  to  present  uses,  but  destined  when 
those  uses  are  completed  to  drop  into  dissolution  and 
be,  in  this  form,  no  longer  existent  ? 

This  question,  it  will  be  perceived,  is  one  of  faet, — 
present  fact.  It  does  not  now  look  forward  to  the  dis- 
tant future  to  inquire  what  will  be  then,  but  it  asks 
what  is  true  of  the  body  of  man  now,  in  its  present 
earthly  life.  Such  a  question  belongs,  obviously,  in 
the  first  place,  to  science — that  department  which  we 
call  biology  ;  and  in  the  second  place  to  revelation,  so 
far  as  the  latter  has  spoken  in  regard  to  it. 

SECTION  I. 
THE   TESTEMONY   OF    SCIEKCE. 

On  this  question,  then,  we  interrogate  science,  in 
the  persons  of  several  of  its  most  distinguished  inter- 
pretators. 

Dr.  Mark  Hopkins,  than  whom  we  have  no  more 
reliable  authority,  at  least  in  this  country,  in  describ- 
ing the  present  physical  constitution  of  man,  says 
(Outline  Study  of  Man,  pp.  251,  2)  :— 

"  The  body,  then,  will  not  consist  merely  of  the  mat- 
ter of  which  it  may  be  composed  at  any  given  moment, 
and  which  is  constantly  changing,  but  of  that  in  con- 
nection with  the  or ganific  power  that  has  been  in  it  from 
the  first,  has  wrought  its  changes,  has  caused  it  to  be 
such  a  body  rather  than  another,  and  given  it  its  iden- 
tity, so  that  we  say  we  have  the  same  body  while  not  a 
particle  of  the  same  matter  remains.     How  far  this 


220  THE  PABOUSIA. 

individualized  force  may  be  preserved  in  its  identity 
vi^henitis  separated  from  the  matter  of  the  hody^  so  that 
it  may  again  re-appear^  perhaps,  according  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  correlation  of  forces,  under  some  other 
form,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say.  Certainly,  it  is  not  the 
least  marvelous  feature  of  our  present  state  that  there 
are  types  that  are  constantly  preserved,  while  yet  hav- 
ing such  a  wonderful  variety  under  them.  And  as 
the  tj^pes  are  preserved,  so  there  is  no  absurdity  in 
supposing  that,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us,  each  indi- 
vidual  force^  that  which  is  really  the  body^  may  be  pre- 
served. The  preservation  of  this  type  by  generation 
after  its  kind  seems  natural  because  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  it,  but  is  really  as  mysterious  as  would  be  the 
continuity  of  the  individual  force.  At  any  rate,  we 
have  here  a  separate,  necessitated  form  of  movement, 
that  builds  up  and  maintains  organization,  and  we  call 
the  force  thus  building,  together  with  the  resulting 
organization,  the  Body." 

We  gather  from  this  language  the  following  propo- 
sitions : 

1.  The  body  does  not  consist  of  matter  only. 

2.  It  has  in  it  from  its  first  existence  an  organific 
force. 

3.  In  this  force  consists  the  bodily  identity. 

4.  It  is  this  which  builds  up  and  maintains  the 
material  organization. 

5.  This  force,  and  the  organization  it  builds  up, 
together  constitute  the  body. 

6.  This  organific  force  may  exist  when  separated 
from  the  matter  of  the  body ;  at  least,  there  is  no 
absurdity  in  supposing  it. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE.  221 

The  venerable  ex-President  does  not  go  further  in 
describing  this  "organific  force."  He  does  not  say 
what  it  is,  nor  does  he  give  it  a  name.  His  opinion 
is  valuable  in  that  it  substantiates  the  fact  of  its  exist- 
ence, while  we  look  elsewhere  for  fuller  information 
as  to  its  nature  and  qualities. 

President  Noah  Porter,  of  Yale  College,  is  more  spe- 
cific. Recognizing  the  three-fold  nature  of  man  as 
consisting  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit — (Tco/ia,  (puyfj., 
Tn^eufia—he  attributes  the  organific  force  to  the  psyche, 
or  soul.  "The  term  soul,"  he  says,  "originally  signi- 
fied the  principle  of  life  or  motion  in  a  material  organ- 
ism. It  was  pre-eminently  appropriated  to  the  vital 
principle  or  force  which  animates  the  animal  body, 
whether  in  man  or  the  lower  animals.  Traces  of  this 
signification  may  be  distinctly  discovered  in  the  three- 
fold division  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  in  which  the 
soul  occupies  the  place  between  the  corporeal  or  mate- 
rial part,  and  the  spiritual  or  noetic.  This  interme- 
diate part  was  sometimes  called  the  animal  soul,  and 
was  believed  to  perish  with  the  bod3\"* 

Dr.  P.  proceeds  at  length  to  argue  that  the  soul 
(psyche)  is  the  elementary  principle  of  bodily  life. 
"It  originates  the  bodily  organism  and  actuates  its 
functions."  The  argument  is  one  of  great  interest, 
and  seems  to  be  conclusive,  but  is  too  long  to  quote 
here.  He  next  answers  the  objections  that  may  be 
adduced,  of  which  we  need  mention  only  one,  viz : 
the  view  thus  advanced  is  inconsistent  with  the  doc- 
trine of  the  soul's  immortality.      When  the  body  dies 

»  Human  Intellect,  p.  6. 


222  THE  PABOUSIA. 

its  vitality  ceases :  if  the  soul  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
vital  force,  it  must  cease  likewise.  Dr.  P.  answers  this 
objection  thus : 

"That  the  soul  begins  to  exist  as  a  vital  force,  does 
not  require  that  it  should  always  exist  as  such  a  force, 
or  in  connection  with  a  material  body.  Should  it  re- 
quire another  such  body,  or  medium  of  activity,  it  may 
have  the  power  to  create  it  for  itself^  as  it  has  formed 
the  one  which  it  first  inhabited  ;  or  it  may  already  have 
formed  it  in  the  germ^  and  hold  it  ready  for  occupation 
and  use  as  soon  as  it  sloughs  off  the  one  which  connects 
it  with  the  earth.  These  are  possibilities,  it  is  true, 
but  they  are  sanctioned  by  sufficient  evidence  to  set 
aside  the  objection  which  we  are  considering.  They 
permit  the  only  theory  of  the  souVs  continued  existence 
in  another  state  which  is  consistent  with  the  facts  of 
our  present  being.''  p.  39. 

This  elaborate  work  of  the  learned  President  is  now 
the  text  book  of  ps3^chical  science  in  our  highest 
educational  institutions,  and  may  be  accepted  as  un- 
questionable authority.  From  the  language  above 
cited  we  may  deduce  several  more  propositions,  both 
confirmatory  of  and  additional  to  those  before  stated, 
viz.: 

7.  The  organific  force  of  the  body  is  the  soul 
(psyche). 

8.  The  soul  may  have  the  power  to  create  for  itself, 
when  necessary,  another  body  than  the  material  one, 
as  a  medium  of  its  activity. 

9.  It  may  have  already  formed  such  another  body, 
in  the  germ,  and  may  be  holding  it  ready  for  occupa- 
tion and  use  as  soon  as  it  slouarhs  off  the  material  bodv. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE.  223 

10.  These  two  possibilities  are  the  only  ones  on 
which  the  soul's  immortality  can  be  based,  consistently 
with  the  facts  of  our  present  being. 

Whether  the  soul  exerts  its  organific  force  in  form- 
ing and  molding  the  body  directly,  or  through  the 
medium  of  this  other  body,  Dr.  P.  does  not  say.  Nor, 
assuming  that  such  second  body  already  formed  and 
held  ready  for  future  occupation  is  a  fact,  does  he  give 
us  his  ideas  as  to  its  nature  or  qualities.  It  is  however, 
by  the  supposition,  immortal.  It  does  not  die  with  the 
animal  bod}^,  but  is  to  be  its  vehicle  and  abode  after 
the  soul  by  death  has  sloughed  off  the  latter.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  of  necessity,  to  be  non-atomic- 
i.  e.  not  made  up  of  atoms  or  particles  like  those 
which  constitute  matter,  but  of  some  such  nature  as 
the  imponderable  elements,  light,  magnetism,  elec- 
tricity, etc. 

But  these  points,  in  regard  to  which  President  Porter 
expresses  no  positive  opinion,  are  definitely  pronounced 
upon  by  the  latest  biological  science  taught  in  Germany, 
as  reported  by  Rev.  Joseph  Cook.  In  his  thirteen 
lectures  on  Biology,  he  describes  the  discoveries  which 
have  recently  been  made  in  the  arcana  of  life  with  the 
aid  of  the  microscope,  abundantly  sustaining  the  doc- 
trine of  Pres.  P.  as  to  the  soul  being  the  source  of  the 
vital  force.  He  claims  also  that  it  has  been  made 
certain  that  the  soul  does  dwell  in  such  an  ethereal, 
non-atomic  body  as  the  President  suggests.  This  fact 
he  states  in  separate  propositions,  among  which  are 
the  following : 

"  The  late  German  philosophy  holds  the  view  that 


224  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  soul  must  be  conceived  as  a  property  or  occupant 
of  a  fluid  similar  to  the  ether. 

"  This  fluid,  however,  does  not,  like  the  ether,  con- 
sist of  atoms. — It  is  Ulrici's  view  that  the  soul  is  the 
occupant  of  a  non-atomic  ether  that  fills  the  whole 
form,  and  lies  behind  the  mysterious  weaving  of  the 
tissues. 

"  This  non-atomic  fluid  is  absolutely  continuous  with 
itself. 

"  Its  chief  center  of  force  is  in  the  brain. 

"  But  it  extends  outward  from  that  center,  and  per- 
meates the  whole  atomic  structure  of  the  body. 

"  The  soul,  as  an  occupant  of  this  ethereal  enswath- 
ement,  operates  in  part  unconsciously,  and  in  part  con- 
sciously. 

"  It  co-operates  with  the  vital  force. 

"  It  is  not  identical  with  that  force. 

"  It  is  the  morphological  agent  which  weaves  all  liv- 
ing tiss^ies.  It  spins  nerves.  It  weaves  the  muscles, 
the  tendons,  the  eye,  the  brain.  It  arranges  each  part 
in  harmony  with  all  the  other  parts  of  the  organism. 

"  So  far  as  the  ethereal  enswathement  of  the  soul  is 
non-atomic,  it  is  immaterial. 

"  This  non-atomic,  ethereal  enswathement  of  the  soul 
is  conceivably  separable  from  the  body. 

"  It  becomes  clear,  therefore,  that  even  in  that  state 
of  existence  which  succeeds  death,  the  soul  may  have 
a  spiritual  body. 

"  The  existence  of  that  body  preserves  the  memories 
acquired  during  life  in  the  flesh. 

"  If  this  ethereal,  non-atomic  enswathement  of  the 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  SCIENCE,  225 

soul  be  interpreted  to  mean  what  the  Scriptures  mean 
by  a  spiritual  body  in  distinction  from  a  natural  body, 
there  is  entire  harmony  between  the  latest  results  of 
science  and  the  inspired  doctrine  of  the  resurrection." 
These  conclusions  are  not,  according  to  Mr.  Cook, 
mere  theories,  or  as  President  Porter  terms  them,  pos- 
sibilities, but  demonstrated  facts  of  science.    "We  are 
following,"  says  he,  "haughty  axiomatic  certainty.    In 
clear  and  cool  precision,  science  comes  to  the  idea  of 
a  spiritual  body.     We  must  not  forget  that  this  con- 
clusion is  proclaimed  in  the  name  of  philosophy  of  the 
severest  sort.     The  verdict  is  scientific ;  it  happens, 
also,  to  be  biblical.     Is  it  the  worse  for  that  ?     *       * 
"In  every  leaf  on  the  summer  boughs  there  is  a  net- 
work which  may  be  dissolved  out  of  the  verdant  por- 
tion, and  yet  retain  as  a  ghost  the  shape  which  it  gave 
the  leaf  from  which  it  came.     In  every  human  form 
growing  as  a  leaf  on  the  tree  Igdrasil,  we  know  that 
network  lies  within  network.     Each  web  of  organs, 
if  taken  separately,  would  have  a  form  like  that  of 
man.     There  might  be  placed  by  itself  the  muscular 
portion  of  the  human  form,  or  the  osseous  portion,  or 
the  veins,  or  the  arteries,  and  each  would  show  the 
human  shape.     If  the  nerves  could  be  dissolved  out 
and  held  up  here,  they  would  be  a  white  form  coinci- 
dent everywhere  with  the  mysterious  human  physical 
outline.     But  the  invisible  nervous  force  is  more  ethe- 
real than  this  ghost  of  nerves.     The  fluid  in  which  the 
nervous  waves  occur  is  finer  than  the  nervous  fila- 
ments.    What  if  it  could  be  separated  from  its  envir- 
onment and  held  up  here  ?     It  could  not  be  seen  ;    it 
11 


226  THE  PABO USIA . 

could  not  be  touched.  The  hand  might  be  passed 
through  it ;  the  eyes  of  men  in  their  present  state 
would  detect  no  trace  of  it ;   but  it  would  be  there. 

"Your  Ulricis,  your  Lotzes,  your  Beales,  adhere  un- 
flinchingly to  the  scientific  method.  The  self-evident 
axiom  that  every  change  must  have  an  adequate  cause 
requires  us  to  hold  that  there  exists  behind  the  nerves 
anon-atomic  ethereal  enswathement  for  the  soul,  which 
death  dissolves  out  from  all  complex  contact  with  mere 
flesh,  and  which  death  thus  unfettering  without  dis- 
embodying leaves  free  before  God  for  all  the  devel- 
opment with  which  God  can  inspire  it."  * 

*  In  adducing  the  testimony  of  science  to  the  present  exis- 
tence of  * 'the  spiritual  body,"  it  maybe  thought  that  some  re- 
ference should  be  made  to  the  phenomena  of  what  is  called 
"spiritualism,"  as  offering  confirmatory  evidence  to  the  same 
effect.  Those  phenomena,  making  large  allowance  for  impos- 
ture and  illusion,  I  should  not  be  disposed  to  deny.  The  testi- 
mony of  thousands  of  eye-witnesses  of  unimpeachable  veracity 
establishes  beyond  a  doubt  that  there  is  a  residuum  of  fact  un- 
der these  manifestations  which  can  be  best  explained  by  the 
presence  within  the  human  body  of  an  occult,  invisible,  ethe- 
real force,  which,  in  special  circumstances,  reveals  itself  to  the 
senses  and  produces  abnormal  and  marvelous  effects.  If  the 
existence  of  a  spiritual  body,  like  that  described  by  Mr.  Cook, 
be  ascertained  from  independent  sources,  or  if  it  be  merely 
assumed  as  a  hypothesis,  it  will  certainly  harmonize  with 
those  observed  facts.  But  the  whole  subject  is  still  so  unde- 
termined, and  there  is  such  a  mass  of  deception  and  falsehood 
connected  with  it,  that  it  can  as  yet  scarcely  be  referred  to  in 
proof  of  anything.  The  most  which  it  seems  to  me  can  be  said 
at  present  is,  that'the  phenomena  referred  to  point  in  the  same 
direction  with  those  described  in  the  text. 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  TEE  SCBIPTURES.      227 

SECTION  n. 
THE  TESTIMONY  OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

Is  the  fact  thus  affirmed  by  science  as  to  the  pres- 
ent existence  of  a  spiritual  body  within  the  material 
body,  the  investiture  and  medium  of  activity  of  the 
soul,  confirmed  by  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  ? 

1.  In  favor  thereof,  we  have,  first,  an  express  re- 
cognition of  the  threefold  nature  of  man,  in  which 
that  doctrine  is  founded.  1  Thess.  5  :  23.  "  I  pray 
God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  preserved 
blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
The  precise  distinction  between  these  is  thus  stated  by 
Alford :  "  The  spirit  is  the  highest  and  distinctive 
part  of  man,  the  immortal  and  responsible  soul  in  our 
common  parlance ;  the  soul  (psyche)  is  the  lower  or 
animal  soul,  containing  the  passions  and  desires  which 
we  have  in  common  with  the  brutes,  but  which  in  us 
is  ennobled  and  drawn  up  by  the  spirit" — pneuma. 
With  this  most  commentators  substantially  agree.  Dr. 
Hodge  thinks  that  there  are  in  man  "  only  two  sub- 
jects, or  distinct  separable  substances,  the  soul  and  the 
body."  In  this,  however,  he  stands  nearly  alone. 
Dr.  Hopkins  says,  "  We  find  three  departments  of 
force  clearly  distinguishable  from  each  other,  and 
suppose  that  the  apostle  Paul  was  justified  as  a  philos- 
opher in  calling  them  Body,  Soul,  and  Spirit."  Dr. 
Candlish,  in  a  sermon  entitled  "  Life  in  a  Risen  Sav- 
iour,'' says,  "The  spirit  is  that  higher  principle  of 
intelligence  and  thought  peculiar  to  man  alone  in  this 
world,  to  which  we  now  usually  restrict  the  mind  or 


228  THE  PAROUSIA. 

soul ;  the  soul,  or  that  lower  principle  of  animal  life 
with  its  instincts,  selfish  and  social,  its  power  of  volun- 
tary motion,  its  strange  incipient  dawn  of  reasoning, 
which  common  alike  to  man  and  beast  is  so  great  a 
mystery  in  both ;  and  the  body  made  to  be  the  material 
organ  and  instrument  of  either  principle,  the  higher 
or  the  lower — these  three  in  one,  this  trinity,  is  our 
present  humanity."  Quoted  in  Lange's  Com.  on  1 
Thess.  5  :  23.  Similar  are  the  words  of  EUicott  on  the 
same  passage.  He  describes  the  psyche  as  "  the  sphere 
of  the  will  and  the  affections,  and  the  true  center  of 
the  personality.'' 

2.  Next,  we  have  the  relation  between  the  soul  and 
the  spirit  indicated  in  Heb.  4 :  12.  "  The  word  of  God 
is  quick  and  powerful  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,  piercing  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit^  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow^  Not  the  divi- 
ding or  separation  of  the  soul  from  the  spirit,  but  the 
piercing  through  of  the  soul  and  the  spirit.  The  figure 
is  that  of  a  sword  so  sharp  and  driven  with  so  much 
force  as  to  penetrate  through  the  bones  of  the  limbs 
into  the  marrow  within  them.  So  the  spirit  lies  within 
the  soul,  the  inmost,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  the 
highest  principle  of  his  nature, -that  which  bears  the 
image  of  God  and  is  capable  of  fellowship  with  him. 

3.  We  have  this  lower  or  animal  soul,  the  psyche^ 
giving  character  to  persons  who  suffer  themselves  to  be 
actuated  by  it  in  spiritual  things.  1  Cor.  2 :  14. 
"  The  natural — Gr.  psychical — man  receiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him,  neither  can  he  know  them   because  they 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.      229 

are  spiritually  discerned."  Nothing  can  be  better 
than  Alford's  explanation  of  this.  "  The  animal  man, 
as  distinguished  from  the  spiritual  man,  is  he  whose 
governing  principle  and  highest  reference  of  all  things 
is  the  psyche,  the  animal  life.  In  him  the  pneuma  or 
spirit,  being  unvivified  and  uninformed  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  is  overborne  by  the  animal  soul  with  its  desires 
and  its  judgments,  and  is  in  abeyance  so  that  he  may 
be  said  to  have  it  not." — Again,  Jude  19.  The  mock- 
ers, who  walk  after  their  own  ungodly  lusts,  are 
declared  to  be  "  sensual — Gr.  psychical, — having  not 
the  spirit — pneuma  " — "  We  have,"  says  Alford,  "  no 
English  word  for  <fio')^rx6:; ;  and  our  biblical  psychology 
is  by  this  defect,  entirely  at  fault.  The  psyche  is  the 
center  of  the  personal  being ;  the  "  I "  of  each  indi- 
vidual. It  is  in  each  man  bound  to  the  spirit,  man's 
higher  part,  and  to  the  body,  man's  lower  part ;  drawn 
upwards  by  the  one,  downwards  by  the  other.  He 
who  gives  himself  up  to  the  lower  appetites  is  fleshly ; 
he  who  by  communion  of  his  pneuma  with  God's  Spirit 
is  employed  in  the  higher  aims  of  his  being  is  spiritual. 
He  who  rests  mid- way,  thinking  only  of  self  and  self's . 
interests,  whether  animal  or  intellectual,  is  the  ipuyixcK;^ 
the  selfish  man,  the  man  in  whom  the  spirit  is  sunk 
and  degraded  into  subordination  to  the  subordinate 
fsyche^^ — The  same  sense  is  apparent  in  James  3 :  15, 
"  This  wisdom  descendeth  not  from  above,  but  is 
earthly,  psychical,  devilish." 

4.  We  are  now  prepared  to  come  to  the  considera- 
tion of  that  important  passage  in  which  Paul  discusses 
directly  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  body.     Let  us 


230  THE  PABOUSIA, 

endeavor  to  follow  carefully  his  teachings,  without 
reference,  for  the  present,  to  the  time  when  the  res- 
urrection takes  place. 

"How  and  with  what  body  are  the  dead  raised?" 
is  the  question  which  he  undertakes  to  answer.  The 
severity  of  his  language  implies  that  the  inquirer 
intended  it  as  an  argument  against  the  possibility  of  a 
resurrection. 

His  first  words  are  addressed  to  the  tacit  argument 
presented  by  the  nature  of  death  itself.  "  The  body  " 
says  the  doubter,  "  is  lifeless ;  it  is  decomposed ;  its 
materials  are  scattered  to  the  winds.  How  can  it  live 
again  ?" 

"  A  foolish  objection  that,"  says  the  apostle.  "  You 
know  by  experience  that  whenever  you  want  to  secure 
reproduction,  you  put  the  seed  into  a  position  where  it 
dies.  That  is,  not  the  germ,  but  the  outer  covering, — 
what  in  common  speech  we  call  the  seed.  The  mere 
fact,  then,  of  such  death  and  decomposition  of  this  outer 
fleshly  nature  of  man  is  no  proof  that  he  will  not  live 
again. 

"  On  the  contrary,  when  this  outer  fleshly  covering 
decomposes,  then  it  is  that  the  germ  lying  dormant 
within — a  germ  which  had  been  forming  and  maturing 
during  all  the  previous  life  of  the  plant-at  once  starts 
forth  in  an  independent  life  of  its  own.  The  germ  is 
not  created  at  the  time  of  the  dying  of  the  old  seed, — 
much  less,  is  its  existence  delayed  till  years  or  ages 
afterward.  It  was  something  already  grown  and 
matured;  it  only  waited  for  the  death  of  the  seed  to 
be  loosed  from  its  imprisoning  envelope,  and  take  on 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  SCBIPTURES.       231 

development  of  its  own.  It  becomes  a  new  body, 
given  by  God  as  it  pleased  him,  according  to  the  law 
of  life  which  he  created,  when  he  made  every  thing 
to  bring  forth  after  its  kind. 

"  So,  therefore,  the  risen  body  of  man  is  not  the 
old  one  that  was  sown,  but  a  new  one  developed  out 
of  it  by  the  power  of  Him  who  first  gave  it  being. 

"Do  not  suppose,  however,  because  it  is  a  new 
product  divinely  given,  that  it  is  not  properly  a  hody. 
Even  these  earthly  bodies  of  flesh  are  not  exactly  the 
same ;  man,  beast,  bird  and  fish,  has  each  its  own  yet 
they  are  alike  flesh.  So  with  bodies.  There  are 
heavenly  bodies,  such  as  angels  have,  and  earthly 
bodies,  as  men ;  the  former  indeed  much  more  glori- 
ous than  the  latter ;  just  as  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  each 
have  their  own  separate  rank  in  splendor. 

"  So  also  is  the  anastasis, — the  resurrection  life  of 
those  who  have  died.  Their  new  bodies  are  immeas- 
urably more  glorious  than  the  old  ones,  as  much  more 
as  incorruptibility  exceeds  corruption,  honor  is  better 
than  dishonor,  power  than  weakness,  a  spiritual  body 
than  a  psychical  body.  Do  not  marvel  at  this  phrase, 
for  if  there  is  a  psychical  body,  one  which  is  under  the 
influence  of  animal  passion,  and  made  the  servant  of 
selfish  desire  and  aims,  there  is  also  a  spiritual  body, 
one  which  is  instinct  with  and  subservient  to  the  spirit. 
So  also  it  is  written  "  The  first  man,  Adam,  was  made 
a  living  piiychey  Gen.  2 ;  7.  The  natural  life,  there- 
fore, derived  from  this  first  head  of  the  race  must  be 
a  psychical  one.  But  the  second  Adam,  the  second 
head  of  the  race,  became  a  life-giving  spirit ;  so  those 


232  THE  PAROUSIA. 

who  are  born  anew  from  him  have  a  spiritual  life.  In 
the  order  of  nature  this  must  come  after  the  other. 
The  first  or  psychical  man,  having  been  made  out  of 
the  earth,  was  earthly ;  the  second  or  spiritual  man 
was  from  heaven.  Like  this  earthly  Parent  will  be 
his  earthly  seed,  and  like  their  heavenly  Parent  will 
be  his  heaven-born  seed.  And  as  we  Christians  have 
borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  having  psychical  bod- 
ies, so  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  Heavenly, 
having  spiritual  bodies.  And  in  regard  to  these  I 
say  distinctly,  brethren,  flesh  and  blood—these  material 
bodies — cannot  be  partakers  of  the  heavenly  kingdom 
of  God;  nor  can  corruption  attain  unto  incorruption." 

Two  things  in  this  wonderful  passage  deserve  special 
notice.  First,  the  similitude  of  the  seed-sowing.  It 
was  previously  used  by  our  Lord  himself  of  his  own 
resurrection.  John  12 :  24.  Now  the  whole  signifi- 
cance of  this  figure  lies  in  the  point  that  death  is 
necessary  in  order  to  liberate  the  imprisoned  germ. 
If  there  were  no  such  germ,  or  if  that  too  were  dead, 
there  could  be  no  new  life.  That  germ  can  not  spring 
forth  and  grow  until  the  husk,  skin,  and  albuminous 
mass  inclosing  it  are  softened  and  decomposed,  in  a 
manner  analogous  to  the  death  and  dissolution  of  the 
body.  What  is  more  obvious  than  the  inference  that 
the  germ  of  the  resurrection  body  already  exists  in 
the  present  body  ? 

The  other  point  to  be  noticed  is  the  affirmation  that 
there  are  two  kinds  of  bodies.  "  If  there  is  a  psychical 
body,  there  is  also  a  spiritual.''''  So  the  best  Mss. 
The  two  are  spoken  of  as  co-existing.     Both  verbs  are 


RELATING  TO  REGENERATION.  233 

in  the  present  tense,  as  if  alike  asserting  a  present 
truth.  I  cannot  see  how  such  a  form  of  speech  is  con- 
sistent with  the  idea  that  there  was,  at  that  time,  no 
spiritual  body  actually  in  existence,  and  would  not  be 
for  a  period  then,  at  least,  full  two  thousand  years 
distant,  and  possibly  much  further. 

SECTION  ni. 
THE  EESUKRECTION  AS  RELATED  TO  HEGENEKATION. 

We  have  seen  it,  now,  established  both  by  science 
and  the  Scriptures  that  the  psyche.,  the  vital  principle 
of  man's  nature, — that  which  has  built  up  and  main- 
tains this  animal  organism,  has  also,  as  if  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  dissolution  of  that  organism,  formed  in  the 
germ  another  body  of  higher  nature,  ethereal  and 
immortal,  which  in  the  language  of  President  Porter 
"  it  holds  ready  for  occupation  and  use  as  soon  as  it 
sloughs  off  the  one  which  connects  it  with  the  earth." 
The  question,  then,  naturally  arises  why,  if  man,  while 
still  occupying  the  former  body  under  the  selfish 
instincts  and  passions  of  the  psyche^  becomes  corrupt, 
— having  the  character  attributed  by  Paul  and  Jude 
to  the  psychical  man, — will  he  not  when  separated 
from  the  animal  body,  and  become  an  occupant  of  the 
new  ethereal  body,  be  also  corrupt ;  and  why  this, 
therefore,  will  not  also  become,  like  the  other,  d^  psychi- 
cal body,  unworthy  of  the  appellation  spiritual  ? 

The  answer,  manifestly,  is  because  by  the  grace  of 
God,  the  moral  nature  has  been  spiritually  renewed 
in  all  those  that  believe  in  Christ. 


234  THE  PAROUSIA. 

Observe  the  position  which  the  elements  of  that 
nature  hold  toward  each  other  in  man's  uncon- 
verted state.  "The  psyche,"  says  Alford  (Jude  19), 
"is  the  center  of  the  personal  being ;  the  'I'  of  each 
individual.  It  is,  in  each  man,  bound  to  the  spirit, 
man's  higher  part,  and  to  the  body,  man's  lower  part ; 
drawn  upwards  by  the  one,  downwards  by  the  other. 
He  who  gives  himself  up  to  the  lower  appetites  is 
Gapy.abc, — fleshly ;  he  who  by  communion  of  his  pneu- 
ma  with  God's  Spirit  is  employed  in  the  higher  aims 
of  his  being  is  7Tveo[iaTcx6^ — spiritual.  He  who  rests 
midway,  thinking  only  of  self  and  self's  interests, 
whether  animal  or  intellectual,  is  the  (}>oy^ix6(;^  the  sel- 
fish man,  the  man  in  whom  the  spirit  is  sunk  and  de- 
graded into  subordination  to  the  subordinate  'psyche. ^^ 

Now,  in  regeneration  this  perverted  state  of  the 
nature  is  reversed.  The  pneuma,  or  spirit,  which  in 
the  unregenerate  man  was  dead  or  dormant,  is  quick- 
ened. The  word  of  God,  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,  pierces  through  the  intellectual  and  emotional 
nature — the  psyche^ — into  the  spirit  and  rouses  it  to 
life  and  activity.  The  spirit  of  God  touches  it  and 
brings  it  into  rapport— commumon— with  himself.  It 
derives  thence  strength  to  cast  off  the  bondage  of  the 
psyche,  and  assume  its  proper  place  as  the  controlling 
power  over  the  man.  Soul  and  body  alike  are  brought 
under  its  dominion.  Henceforward  the  work  of  sanc- 
tification  proceeds,  the  lower  nature  becoming  more 
and  more  obedient  to  the  higher,  until  the  true  har- 
mony of  man's  constitution  which  had  been  destroyed 


RELATING  TO  REGENERATION.  235 

by  the  fall  is  restored,  and'  a  divine  order,  peace  and 
purity  reign  throughout.  * 

Thus  it  follows  that  the  resurrection,  in  the  case  of 
the  righteous,  is  but  the  consequent  and  completion  of 
regeneration.  The  ethereal,  non-atomic  body,  being 
now  the  abode  of  a  psyche  which  has  been  subordi- 
nated to  the  pneuma.,  becomes  itself  the  suitable  abode 
and  instrument  of  the  regenerate  nature  and  is  hence- 
forth, in  the  strictest  sense,  a  spiritual  body.  Says 
Prof.  Reuss,  "Paul  more  frequently  places  the  resur- 
rection in  close  and  direct  relation  with  the  mystical 
ideas  of  faith  and  regeneration.  In  this  aspect  of  it, 
men  in  whom  the  germ  of  the  new  spiritual  life  is 
already  present  and  active  have  alone  the  prospect  of 
a  part  in  the  second  resurrection,  which  is  finally  to 
vanquish  death  and  chase  away  the  terrors  of  the 
tomb.  The  physical  resurrection  of  the  future  is  in- 
separably linked  to  the  spiritual  resurrection  of  the 
present.  *  *  *  If  this  is  the  adequate  expression 
of  the  thought  of  Paul,  it  would  be  no  less  true  to  say 
that  the  resurrection  is  already  virtually  accomplished 
in  the  regeneration.  The  future  return  to  life  after 
the  death  which  awaits  us  all  will  be  only  the  conse- 
quence of  this  first  palingenesis."  ^ 

It  follows,  also,  from  the  same  premises  that,  in  the 
case  of  the  non-regenerate,  the  resurrection  is  one  to 
confirmed  sin  and  its  dire  accompaniments  of  "shame 

^■See  the  chapter  on  Conversion  to  God,  in  Heard's  "Tripar- 
tite Nature  of  Man,"  pp.  201-221. 

^  Hist,  of  Ch.  Theology,  vol.11,  pp.  194-196. 


236  THE  PAROUSIA. 

and  everlasting  contempt.""  The  new  body,  wrought 
and  actuated  by  the  unrenewed  psyche^  has  become 
psychical^  like  the  animal  body  ;  nay  as  much  more  so 
as  its  nature  and  capacities  enable  it  to  be.  If  the 
resurrection  body  be  something  already  existent  with- 
in us,  generated  and  growing  there  as  a  part  of  our 
very  nature,  like  a  germ  within  its  fruit,  and  taking 
on  its  character  according  to  the  character  of  the 
vital  elements  which  dwell  in  it,  then  the  resurrection, 
i.  e.,  the  emerging  of  that  body  from  the  decaying 
matrix  in  which  it  was  formed  and  its  standing  up — 
anastasis — in  a  new  and  independent  life  of  its  own, 
is  a  natural  event,  as  truly  as  death  itself,  and  must 
take  place  with  the  wicked  as  well  as  the  righteous. 
Our  doctrine  provides  both  for  the  fact  and  the 
results  of  that  resurrection.  To  the  believer  in  Christ, 
that  natural  event  becomes  a  blessed  one,  through 
grace— the  gift  of  God.  Eph.  2:8.  To  the  unbeliev- 
er, it  is  a  beginning  of  the  immortal  career  of  a  being 
in  whom  the  pneuma  is  forever  dead,  and  which  has 
lost  henceforth  all  power  of  regeneration.  ''If,"  says 
Dr.  Bushnell,  in  respect  to  the  future  condition  of  the 
lost,  "we  talk  of  their  final  restoration,  what  is  going 
to  restore  them,  when  the  very  thing  we  see  in  them 
here  is  the  gradual  extinction  of  their  capabilities  of 
religion  ?  Their  want  of  God  itself  dies  out,  and  they 
have  no  God-ward  aspirations  left.  The  talent  of  in- 
spiration, of  spiritual  perception,  of  love,  of  faith — 
every  inlet  of  their  nature  that  was  open  to  God,  is 
closed  and  virtually  extirpated.  This  is  no  figure  of 
speech,  that  merely  signifies  their  virtual  obscuration  ; 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION.  237 

it  is  a  fact.  By  what,  then,  are  they  going  to  be  re- 
stored ?  Will  Glod  take  them  up,  as  they  enter  into 
the  future  life,  and  re-create  their  extirpated  faculties 
of  religion  ?  Will  the  pains  of  hell  burn  a  religion  into 
their  lower  faculties,  and  so  restore  them  ?  *  *  * 
A  living  creature  remains, — a  mind,  a  memory,  a 
heart  of  passion,  fears,  irritability,  will, — all  these  re- 
main ;  nothing  is  gone  but  the  angel  life  that  stood 
with  them,  and  bound  them  all  to  God."  * 

SECTION  IV. 
THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION. 

When,  then,  does  this  spiritual  body  emerge  from 
the  body  of  time  and  sense,  and  enter  into  its  new,  its 
resurrection  life  ? 

As  we  approach  this  inquiry,  it  is  impossible  to 
suppress  the  feeling  of  sadness  that  arises  from  the 
thought  that  this  event  so  full  of  both  joyful  and  sol- 
emn anticipations  has  come  to  be  almost  universally 
regarded  as  far  distant.  The  comfort  under  sorrow, 
the  impressive  admonitions  against  worldliness  and 
carelessness,  which  would  else  have  been  imparted  by 
it  have  thus  been  in  great  measure  lost.  The  tie 
which  connects  it  with  the  present  life  and  renders  it 
a  rational  and  natural  event  has  been  sundered,  and 
we  are  forced  to  look  upon  it  as  a  stupendous  and  in- 
comprehensible miracle.     As  on  the  kindred  topic  of 

*  Sermons  for  the  New  Life,  pp.  183,  4.  The  discourse  enti- 
tled "The  capacity  of  religion  extirpated  by  disuse,"  is  one  of 
the  most  eloquent  and  impressive  portraitures  of  the  condition 
of  a  man  who  has  lost  thepneuma,  and  become  wholly  psychical. 


238  THE  PAROUSIA. 

the  time  of  the  Parousia,  by  pressing  the  mere  costume 
of  the  inspired  Word  to  the  obscuring  of  its  import  as 
determined  by  the  plainest  laws  of  interpretation,  the 
resurrection  has  been  robbed  of  its  power  for  present 
use  and  relegated  to  those  shadowy  regions  of  the 
future  where  it  stands  not  as  an  impending  reality, 
but  at  most  as  a  subject  of  curious,  half-skeptical 
speculation.  Shall  it  be  possible  to  restore  it  to  that 
place  in  our  faith  where  it  was  such  a  star  of  hope  to 
the  primitive  Christians,  while  they  waited  amid  the 
discomforts  of  this  earthly  tabernacle  for  "  the  house 
which  is  from  heaven  "  ? 

Holding  in  abeyance,  then,  for  a  little  while  the 
traditions  we  have  been  taught,  let  us  see  whether 
God's  word  on  being  carefully  interrogated  will  not 
give  us  a  better  view  of  this  great  subject. 

We  answer  the  proposed  inquiiy  unhesitatingly, 
AT  DEATH.  Not  simultaneously  with  all  the  family 
of  man,  in  some  supposed  far-off  epoch  at  the  end  of 
the  world,  but  with  each  individual  at  the  close  of 
this  mortal  life. 

1.  This  is  shown  in  the  very  constitution  of  man  as 
taught  us  by  science.  It  is  a  direct  corollary  from 
those  facts  which  we  have  seen  affirmed  by  our  highest 
authorities  on  psychology.  When  Presidents  Hopkins 
and  Porter,  with  the  cool  precision  of  philosophers, 
tell  us  of  the  three-fold  nature  of  man ;  of  the  organ- 
ific  force  which  builds  up  this  animal  frame  ;  which 
may  exist  separately  from  it ;  which  may  have  already 
formed  for  itself  another  body,  held  "ready  for  occu- 
pation and  use  as  soon  as  it  sloughs  off  the  one  which 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  BjuSURBECTION .  239 

connects  it  with  the  earth,"  they  are  in  fact  teaching 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  at  death.  Mr.  Cook 
may  be  a  poet,  but  the  savants  whose  long  and  patient 
labors  with  the  scalpel  and  microscope  he  reports  to 
us  are  something  more.  Who  shall  gainsay  their 
testimony? 

2.  It  is  only  upon  the  assumption  of  the  resurrec- 
tion at  death  that  man's  immortality  can  be  shown  to 
be  probable  or  even  possible.  President  Porter  says 
expressly,  that  the  present  existence  of  the  spiritual 
body  ready  for  occupation  and  use  at  that  time 
"permits  the  only  theory  of  the  soul's  continued  exist- 
ence in  another  state  which  is  consistent  with  the 
facts  of  our  present  heing.^^  I  know  it  has  always 
been  customary  to  talk  of  "  disembodied  souls,"  but 
who  has  ever  shown  such  a  thing  to  be  possible? 
There  is  no  evidence  that  a  soul  separated  from  a 
bodily  organism  can  maintain  a  conscious  existence.  It 
certainly  can  have  neither  force  nor  consciousness  here 
unless  such  connection  be  preserved,  and  that  too  in  a 
healthful  condition.  "  Pure  reason,"  says  Prof.  West- 
cott,  "  cannot  suggest  any  arguments  to  establish  the 
personality  of  the  soul  when  finally  separated  from  the 
body,  and  for  us  personality  is  only  another  name  for 
existence. — Reason  points  to  death  as  a  phenomenon 
absolutely  singular,  which  closes  life  so  far  as  we  know 
it,  and  tahes  away  the  conditions  of  our  life.  But  if 
a  single  experience  [the  resurrection  of  Christ]  can 
show  that  these  conditions  are  not  destroyed,  but  sus- 
pended as  far  as  we  observe  them,  or  modified  by  the 
action  of  some  new  law :  that  what  seems  to  be  a  dis- 


240  THE  PAROUSIA. 

solution  is  really  a  transformation  :  that  the  soul  does 
not  remain  alone  in  a  future  state,  hut  is  still  united 
with  our  body,  that  is,  with  an  organism  which  in  a 
new  sphere  expresses  the  law  which  our  present  body 
now  expresses  in  this,  then  reason  will  welcome  the 
belief  in  our  future  personality  no  less  than  instinct."  * 

Coupling  this  dependence  of  the  soul  upon  a  cor- 
poreal organism  for  its  conscious  personality  with 
the  postponement  of  the  resurrection,  when  such 
organism  will  be  restored,  to  the  far  distant  future, 
we  come  necessarily  to  the  absolute  extinction  of  the 
soul  at  death.  The  intervening  space  between  the 
two  events  is  a  total  blank.  I  am  aware  that  many 
men  of  eminence,  and  even  some  entire  denominations 
of  Christians,  have  accepted  this  as  an  article  of  their 
faith.  To  my  own  mind,  scarcely  any  thing  could  be 
more  shocking.  Have  all  the  past  generations  of  man 
perished  in  this  abyss  of  nothingness  ?  Have  none  of 
the  race  of  Adam,  Enoch  and  Elijah  alone  excepted, 
reached  heaven  ?  Is  there  no  better  hope  for  ourselves 
beyond  this  life  than  that  of  slumbering  till  the 
unknown  and  distant  era  of  the  resurrection  in  the 
dreamless  sleep  of  the  grave  ? 

I  will  not  stop  to  adduce  the  testimonies  of  the 
Scriptures,  of  which  there  is  such  an  abundance,  to 
refute  what  Calvin  calls  this  "  crazy  idea  " — delira- 
mentum.  These  will  sufficiently  appear  in  other  con- 
nections as  we  proceed.     Rather  should  the  assumption 

*The  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection,  by  Brooke  Foss  Westcott, 
D.D.  RegiuB  Professor  of  Divinity,  Cambridge,  England,  pp. 
154-156. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  EESURIiECTION.  241 

be  rejected  which  involves  such  a  conclusion.  There 
is  no  such  intervening  period  between  death  and  the 
resurrection.  A  strictly  disembodied  state  of  the  soul 
is  inconceivable.  Science  and  Scripture  alike  assure 
us  that  "  we  shall  verily  be  found  clothed,  not  naked." 
2  Cor.  5  :  3.     Alford's  rendering. 

3.  This  fact  furnishes  the  only  ground  upon  which 
the  resurrection  itself  is  conceivably  possible.  A  con- 
tinuous personality/  only  can  live  again — (wcardvat. 
God  can  create  a  new  being  to  succeed  one  that  was 
laid  in  the  grave  ages  before  ;  but  such  creation  is  not 
a  resurrection.  Nor  does  the  animal  body  supply  the 
indispensable  continuity.  It  perishes ;  it  ceases  to 
be.  The  chemical  elements  which  once  entered  into 
it  are  indeed  still  in  being,  but  they  alone  do  not  con- 
stitute a  body.  They  never  made  what  Dr.  Hopkins 
calls  "  that  which  is  really  the  body.'*  There  must  be 
with  these  "  the  organific  power  that  has  been  in  the 
body  from  the  first,  has  wrought  its  changes,  has 
caused  it  to  be  such  a  body  rather  than  another,  and 
given  it  its  identity ^  Says  Prof.  Westcott,  "We  can- 
not understand  by  body  simply  a  particular  aggregate 
of  matter,  but  an  aggregation  of  matter  as  represent- 
ing in  one  form  the  action  of  a  particular  law,  or 
rather  the  realization  of  a  special  formula.  The  same 
material  elements  may  enter  into  a  thousand  bodies, 
but  the  law  of  each  body,  as  explained  above,  gives 
to  it  that  which  is  peculiar  to  and  characteristic  of  it. 
— There  is  nothing  unnatural  in  supposing  that  the 
power  which  preserves  man's  personality  by  acting 
according  to  the  individual  law  of  his  being,  in  mold- 


242  THE  PAROUSIA. 

ing  the  continuous  changes  of  his  present  material 
body,  will  preserve  his  personality/  hereafter  by  still 
acting  according  to  the  same  law  in  molding  the  new 
element,  so  to  speak,  out  of  which  a  future  body 
may  be  fashioned."  *  If  this  continuous  personality, 
then,  be  not  preserved,  there  can  be  no  resurrection. 
Whatever  may  be  the  value  of  the  speculation  as 
to  what  constitutes  hodily  identity,  it  is  intuitively 
certain  that  there  must  be  a  personal  identity,  else 
the  person  raised  is  not  the  person  that  died.  It  is 
also  certain  that  personal  identity  requires  a  personal 
continuity,  the  survival  after  death  of  that  psyche^ 
with  its  spiritual  body,  which  is,  as  Alford  says,  "  the 
center  of  the  personal  being,  the  '  I '  of  each  individ- 
ual." 

4.  But  our  chief  reliance  as  to  this  consummate 
fact  of  our  existence,  must  be  upon  the  testimony  of 
the  Bible.  We  take,  then,  first,  the  primary  fact 
already  adverted  to  that  Christ  attained  his  office  as 
"  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,"  immediately  upon 
his  ascension.  It  is  an  inseparable  part  of  his  great 
Messianic  dignity  and  work  which  the  Father  gave  to 
him  as  the  reward  of  his  sufferings.  In  its  spiritual 
department,  so  to  speak,  that  of  giving  life  to  dead 
souls,  we  know  that  he  entered  upon  that  work  even 
before  his  death.  "  The  hour  is  coming,  and  now  is.''' 
John  5  :  25.  Is  it  not  altogether  most  reasonable  to 
believe  that  shortly  after  he  began,  too,  that  other  de- 
partment, whose  hour  also  "  cometh,"— l'/y;f£r«^— when 
all  that  were  in  the  graves  should  heai  his  voice  and 

*  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection,  p.  144. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESUBRECTION.  243 

come  forth  ?  Is  it  likely  that  he  would  be  solemnly 
invested  with  an  official  function  which  was  to  lie  in 
abeyance  for  unknown  ages? 

5.  With  this  harmonizes  his  declaration  to  the  sor- 
rowing family  at  Bethany.  To  their  view,  the  resur- 
rection was  far  away-too  far  to  be  a  source  of  comfort 
under  their  grief.  "  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again," 
said  Martha,  "  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day. 
Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  ; 
he  that  believeth  on  me  even  though  he  have  died 
yet  shall  he  live ;  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believ- 
eth in  me  shall  never  die."  True,  this  does  not  say 
in  terms  that  her  hope  was  too  remote,  but  it  certainly 
leaves  it  to  be  inferred.  In  Christ,  that  which  they 
deemed  far  distant  was  a  present  reality.  The  prom- 
ise and  potency  of  it  was  already  embodied  before 
them.  "Whosoever  believeth  in  me," — (and  the  words 
show  that  he  had  reference,  not  to  the  dead  Lazarus 
alone,  but  to  all  believers  in  all  time)-is  made  present 
victor  over  death  and  the  grave.  No  meaning  less  than 
this  is  at  all  commensurate  with  the  tender  and  solemn 
interest  of  this  occasion. 

6.  Take,  next,  the  analogy  employed  by  the  apostle 
from  the  germination  of  a  seed.  Nothing  can  be  more 
unmistakable  or  beautiful  than  the  lesson  taught  as. 
"  That  which  thou  so  west  is  not  quickened  except  it 
die."  The  death  and  the  quickening  are  in  immedi- 
ate succession.  Dig  up  a  sprouting  kernel  of  corn, 
and  see  the  new  shoot  springing  up  directly  out  of  the 
old  decaying  seed.  And  it  is  only  while  the  old 
still  remains,  though  decomposing,  that  the  germina- 


244  THE  PABOUSIA. 

tion  is  possible,  Sever  the  germ  from  its  matrix,  and 
wait  till  the  latter  wholly  disappears,  and  no  power  of 
quickening  remains. 

It  has  been  said  that  "wheat  found  in  an  Egyptian 
mummy  has  been  made  to  grow  after  its  vital  ener- 
gies had  lain  dormant  three  thousand  years."  ^  Con- 
ceding the  somewhat  questionable  fact,  it  only  con- 
firms our  position.  Even  in  that  case,  the  seed  was 
"not  quickened  until  it  died."  It  had  been  deposited 
in  a  position  where  light  and  moisture  were  excluded, 
so  that  the  maceration  and  softening  requisite  for  the 
liberation  of  the  germ  and  its  first  supplies  of  food 
could  not  take  place.  There  being  no  death,  there 
could  be  no  resurrection.  To  make  the  case  really 
parallel  to  the  supposed  distant  resurrection,  let  the 
wheat  have  died  and  been  decomposed  three  thousand 
years  ago,  and  then  let  it  be  attempted  out  of  the 
slight  impalpable  dust  remaining,  if  any,  to  efPect 
germination  and  a  new  life.  None  can  doubt  what 
the  result  would  be. 

It  may  be  said  that  God  will  give  the  new  spiritual 
body,  as  it  pleaseth  him.  True,  but  so  he  giveth  the 
new  body  of  the  wheat,  and  "to  every  seed  its  own 
body."  This,  however,  does  not  prove  that  he  dis- 
penses with  natural  laws  in  so  doing.  Such  laws  rule 
over  all  the  other  processes  of  life,  its  conception,  its 
birth,  its  growth,  its  decay, — why  may  they  not  over 
its  close,  and  the  transition  to  a  new  life  after  death  ? 
"  The  corporeal  renovation  of  human  nature,"  says 
Isaac  Taylor,  "  may  properly  be  regarded  as  an  estab- 

^Bib.  Sac,  vol.  II,  p.  618. 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION.  245 

lished  part  of  the  great  order  of  the  material  and  sen- 
tient universe,  or  as  a  natural  transition.^  Is  not  that 
one  of  the  lessons  designed  to  be  taught  under  this 
very  figure  of  the  germinating  seed,  a  process  utterly- 
inexplicable  to  human  understanding,  yet  recognized 
by  all  as  taking  place  under  one  of  the  most  familiar 
and  unchangeable  laws  of  nature  ? 

7.  The  reply  of  our  Lord  to  the  question  of  the 
unbelieving  Sadducees  as  to  the  woman  who  had  had 
seven  husbands,  directly  asserts  that  the  resurrection 
was  a  present  fact.  Luke  20 :  27-38.  Observe  the 
present  tense  of  all  the  words.  The  Sadduces  deny 
that  there  is  any  resurrection,  not  will  be.  They  ask, 
in  the  resurrection,  whose  wife  is  she  ?  His  reply  de- 
scribes a  present  condition, — they  neither  marry,  nor 
are  given  in  marriage ;  they  cannot  die  any  more ; 
they  are  equal  to  the  angels,  and  are  the  children  of 
God,  being  the  children  of  the  resurrection.  Would 
that  have  been  the  form  of  the  language  if  our  Lord 
had  meant  to  teach  a  resurrection  in  the  distant  future 
only  ? 

But  more  than  this,  he  expressly  affirms  that  the 
resurrection  had  taken  place  in  the  case  of  Abraham 
and  the  patriarchs.  ''  That  the  dead  are  raised — 
iyecfjouTOi — (it  is  the  word  specially  used  to  denote 
the  raising  of  the  5oc?y)  Moses  showed  at  the  bush, 
when  he  called  the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham  and  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  For  he  is  not 
the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living," — i.  e.,  of  the 
risen.  He  professes  to  prove  to  the  Sadducees  the  fact 

*  Physical  Theory  of  Another  Life,  chap.  12. 


246  THE  PABOUSIA. 

of  a  resurrection — avdcrraac:: — from  the  then  present 
condition  of  these  patriarchs,  as  having  already  at- 
tained it.  The  very  point  of  the  argument  fails  if 
at  that  time  the  anastasis  with  them  had  not  taken 
place. 

In  the  same  conversation,  while  correcting  the  erron- 
eous notions  of  his  questioners  about  the  condition  of 
the  departed,  he  says,  "Neither  can  they  die  any 
more  :  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angeW'' — laaYjeXoc, 
The  connection  shows  the  reference  to  be  not  to  the 
knowledge,  or  power,  or  rank  of  angels,  but  to  their 
subjective  condition.  The  dead  do  not  marry,  or  con- 
tinue the  corporeal  life  of  this  world  (compare  1  Cor. 
6  :  13),  but  are  like  the  angels.  What,  then,  accord- 
ing to  the  current  opinion  of  the  Jews,  was  the  condi- 
tion of  the  angels  ?  Let  the  learned  Professor  Louis 
Mayer,  of  the  German  Reformed  Theo.  Seminary,  of 
York,  Pa.,  answer.  ''The  ancients  had  not  the  mod- 
ern philosophical  idea  of  spirit ;  they  conceived  spirits 
to  be  incorporeal  and  invisible,  but  not  immaterial, 
and  supposed  their  essence  to  be  a  pure  air  or  a  subtil 
fire. — When  the  ancient  Jews  called  angels  spirits^ 
they  did  not  intend  by  that  term  to  deny  that  they 
were  indued  with  bodies.  If  they  affirmed  that  spirits 
were  incorporeal,  they  used  the  term  in  the  sense  in 
which  it  was  understood  by  the  ancients,  that  is,  free 
from  the  properties  of  gross  matter. — In  the  Scrip- 
tures, angels  always  appear  with  bodies  and  in  the  hu- 
man form,  and  no  intimation  is  anywhere  given  that 
these  bodies  are  not  real,  or  are  only  assumed  at  the 
time,  and  then  laid  aside.      It  was  manifest,  indeed, 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION.  247 

to  the  ancients,  that  the  matter  of  these  bodies  was 
not  like  that  of  their  own,  inasmuch  as  angels  could 
make  themselves  visible  and  vanish  again  from  their 
sight,  but  this  experience  would  create  no  doubt  of 
the  reality  of  their  bodies ;  it  would  only  suggest  to 
them  that  they  were  not  composed  of  gross  matter. 
— I  do  not  mean  that  the  fact  that  angels  always 
appeared  in  the  human  form  is  a  proof  that  they 
really  have  this  form,  but  that  the  ancient  .Tews  be- 
lieved so."  * 

An  apparent  confirmation  of  this  belief  is  found  in 
Paul's  glowing  description  of  the  spiritual  body,  in  1 
Cor.  15  :  40.  "  There  are  celestial  hodiesy  It  does 
not  seem  possible,  as  many  have  supposed,  that  he 
meant  by  these  the  starry  or  planetary  worlds, — the 
"  heavenly  bodies"  in  an  astronomical  sense.  The 
ancients  certainly  knew  nothing  of  such  bodies ;  nor 
is  there  any  fitting  comparison  between  these  and  the 
bodies  of  men.  Many  of  the  first  commentators, 
therefore, — Meyer,  de  Wette,  Alford  and  Stanley, — 
understand  here  the  bodies  of  angels.  Dr.  Poor,  the 
translator  of  Kling's  Commentary  on  1  Corinthians 
(in  Lange)  adopts  this  view.  "All  the  accounts  given 
of  the  angels  imply  the  possession  of  a  material  vehi- 
cle, more  subtil  and  glorious  than  that  of  man,  capa- 
ble of  visibility  or  invisibility,  at  the  option  of  the 
spirit  within." 

When  our  Lord,  therefore,  told  the  Sadducees  that 
the  departed  are  "  as  the  angels,"  or  "  equal  to  the 
angels,"  how  certainly  would  they  have  understood 

«  Am.  Bib.  Rep.,  vol.  12,  p.  371-2. 


248  THE  PAROUSIA. 

him  to  mean  that  they  have  bodies  like  theirs.  Not 
those  which,  as  in  this  life,  lay  the  foundation  of  mar- 
riage and  these  earthly  relations,  but  such  as  the 
angels  have,  divested  of  animal  passion,  ethereal, 
celestial,  spiritual.  Could  they  have  supposed  he 
meant  disembodied  spirits,  of  whose  subjective  state 
they  could  have  formed  no  conception  ? 

8.  The  scene  of  the  Transfiguration  presents  to  us 
not  only  our  Saviour  in  his  transfigured  body  but 
Moses  and  Elijah  in  glorified  bodies,  who  "  spake  of 
his  decease — (literally  departure)  which  he  should 
accomplish  at  Jerusalem."  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
scene,  the  disciples  who  had  been  present  were  com- 
manded to  "tell  the  vision  to  no  man  until  the  Son  of 
Man  be  risen  from  the  dead."  It  is  added  that  they 
carefully  observed  the  command,  "  inquiring  with 
themselves  what  is  the  rising  from  the  dead."  Can 
we  question  that  whatever  other  purposes  this  event 
was  designed  to  serve,  one  was  to  teach  them  some- 
thing about  the  resurrection  ?  Did  they  not  behold 
an  exemplar  of  what  He  was  to  be  after  that  approach- 
ing decease,  attended  by  the  glorified  law-giver  and 
great  prophet  of  their  nation  in  their  risen  state,  so 
that  when  their  Lord  should  have  ascended  and  become 
lost  to  their  mortal  sight,  they  might  comfort  them- 
selves and  the  bereaved  church  with  the  assurance 
that  he  still  lived,  and  that  all  his  faithful  saints  who 
had  gone  before  lived  with  him  ?  And  in  all  their 
anxious  inquiries  as  to  the  nature  of  the  resurrection, 
must  not  their  ideas  have  taken  shape  and  color  from 
this  vision?     Moses  and  Elijah  had  risen, — one  who 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION.  249 

had  died  on  Horeb,  and  the  other  who  had  been  trans- 
lated without  dying,  but  now  in  the  same  subjective 
state,  the  same  spiritual  bodies,  appearing  as  the  type 
and  promise  of  what  all  his  people  should  be. 

9.  In  accordance  with  this  foreshadowed  promise 
of  the  glorified  state  of  his  saints  after  death,  Christ 
declares  expressly  that  thei/  shall  be  with  him.  "  If  I 
go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  come  again  and 
receive  you  unto  myself  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may 
be  also."  "  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast 
given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am.,  that  they  may  behold 
my  glory."  John  14 :  3  ;  17 :  24.  But  Christ  ascended 
to  heaven  in  his  resurrection  body.  Wherever  and 
whatever  heaven  may  be,  it  is  a  sphere  adapted  to  the 
abode  of  such  a  body.  How  then  can  his  people  be 
with  him.,  if  they  too  are  not  in  such  a  personal  condi- 
tion of  being  as  to  be  adapted  to  that  place  ?  Com- 
munion of  intercourse,  in  this  sense,  seems  possible 
only  when  there  is  a  community  of  state.  We  cannot 
here  have  intercourse  with  our  departed  friends,  and 
our  Lord  himself  told  the  disciples  that  it  was  expedient 
for  them  that  he  should  go  away  from  them.  The 
separation  is  the  result  of  our  different  conditions  of 
existence.  So  in  heaven  itself,  how  can  his  people  see 
him,  drink  the  new  wine  of  the  kingdom  with  him, 
walk  with  him  in  white,  sit  with  him  in  his  throne,  and 
the  like,  if  he  have  the  glorified  body  of  his  Messiahship, 
and  they  remain  still  disembodied  spirits  ?  We  may 
be  told  that  we  do  not  know  enough  of  the  nature  of 
either  body  or  spirit  to  affirm  its  impossibility,  which  is 
true.  But  all  that  we  do  know,  and  all  the  probabil- 
12 


250  THE  PAROUSIA. 

ities  which  are  discernible  in  respect  to  it  go  to  show 
that  if  not  an  impossibility,  it  is  at  least  an  incongruity 
not  to  be  received  but  upon  decisive  proof, — which 
here  we  have  not. 

"Our  present  body,"  says  Prof.  Reuss,  "has  its 
seat  in  the  soul ;  that  is,  in  the  natural  play  of  certain 
animal,  sensuous  powers ;  the  future  body  will  have 
the  spirit  as  its  vital  principle,  and  will  be  in  its  sub- 
stance heavenly.  The  mortal  element  will,  so  to 
speak,  be  absorbed  by  a  more  powerful  element, 
namely,  life.  2  Cor.  5  :  4.  This  idea  springs  again 
out  of  that  of  fellowship  with  Christ,  which  recurs 
constantly  as  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  whole  system. 
In  truth,  if  our  resurrection  is  a  consequence  of  this 
fellowship,  it  follows  that  the  conditions  of  the  one 
will  be  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  other.  We 
shall  bear  the  body  of  the  heavenly  man, — of  Christ 
glorified, — as  we  now  bear,  (and  as  he  himself  bore) 
the  body  of  the  earthly  man, — the  first  Adam."  Vol. 
II.  p.  198. 

10.  We  find,  therefore,  that  the  actual  expectation 
of  the  apostles  and  primitive  Christians  was  that  the 
resurrection  was  near.  The  coming  of  the  Lord  might 
even  be  in  their  life-time,  in  which  case,  there  would 
be  an  instantaneous  change  in  his  living  people  to  fit 
them  to  be  with  him.  "  Behold,  I  shew  jow  a  mystery; 
we  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed 
in  a  moment  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  at  the  last 
trump ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  dead  shall 
be  raised  incorruptible  and  we  shall  be  changed."  1 
Cor.  15 :  52.     "  The  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first ; 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  BESUBEECTION.  251 

then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught 
up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds,"  etc.  1  Thess. 
4:  17.  A  full  consideration  of  these  passages  is 
deferred  for  the  present.  I  refer  to  them  now  to  show 
merely  that  whatever  Paul  understood  to  be  the  process, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  resurrection,  he  expected  that  he 
and  his  brethren  would  live  till  it  should  occur.  How 
is  it  possible  to  give  any  consistent  meaning  to  his 
words  on  the  supposition  that  he  viewed  it  as  many 
ages  distant? 

11.  It  was  this  hope  of  a  resurrection  at  death 
that  cheered  the  apostle  under  the  trials  of  the  present 
life.  In  Rom.  8  ;  18-25,  he  gives  us  a  vivid  picture  of 
the  whole  creation  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain 
together.  He  adds,  "  And  not  only  they  but  ourselves 
also  who  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we 
ourselves  do  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the 
adoption,  (i.  e.  the  full  results  of  it, — for  the  adoption 
itself  we  have  ;  verse  15)  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our 
hody.'"  Observe,  it  is  not  waiting  for  death,  which 
would  be  a  release  from  the  body,  but  for  the  recovery 
of  this  body  from  the  bondage  of  sin,  corruption  and 
pain  under  which  it  once  suffered,— in  other  words,  for 
the  incorruptible  and  glorious  body  of  the  resurrection 
life.  This  hope,  so  ardent,  by  which  the  apostle  adds, 
parenthetically,  we  are  saved,  does  not  lie  in  his  mind 
as  one  that  is  to  be  realized  only  after  he  has  lain 
thousands  of  years  in  the  grave.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
such  was  not  his  hope,  nor  is  it  the  hope  of  other 
Christians ;  nay,  I  maintain  as  heretofore,  that  it  is  a 
downright   impossibility  for  any  body  to  be   in   the 


252  THE  PAROUSIA. 

attitude  of  waiting,  with  expectation  and  desire,  for 
what  is  as  such  a  vast  remove  from  him. 

12.  A  fuller  statement  of  the  same  hope  is  given 
in  that  most  remarkable  passage,  2  Cor.  4  :  14-5 ;  10. 
The  apostle,  as  before,  is  speaking  of  the  consolations 
which  sustained  him  under  his  present  trials.  "  Know- 
ing," says  he,  "  that  he  which  raised  up  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  raise  up  us  also  by  Jesus  and  shall  present 
us  with  you,"  i.  e.  to  his  Father  in  glory  as  the  fruits 
of  his  work  of  redemption.  Compare  Jude  24.  "  For 
which  cause  we  faint  not,  but  though  our  outward 
man — the  body — perish,  yet  the  inward  man — the 
spiritual  life — is  renewed  day  by  day.  For  our  light 
affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory,  while 
we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at  the 
things  which  are  not  seen ;  for  the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen 
are  eternal."  Most  surely  he  refers  here  to  a  felicity 
then  awaiting  the  saints,  and  not  something  which  is 
to  be  reached  only  after  thousands  of  years  delay. 

He  then  proceeds  more  distinctly  to  describe  this 
glorious  hope.  Using  the  familiar  figure  of  a  house  to 
dwell  in,  he  exhibits  the  contrast  between  the  present 
and  the  future  bodies.  The  one  is  an  "  earthly " 
abode,  to  be  occupied  while  we  live  here  ;  the  other  is 
"  in  the  heavens."  The  former  is  a  "  tabernacle  " — 
axjvo(: — frail  and  transitory;  the  latter  an  "edifice — 
ocxodo/jLTju — of  God,  not  made  with  hands  and  eternal." 
"We  know,"  says  he,  "  that  if  the  one  were  dissolved, 
we  have  the  other" — ^xofiev — we  have  it  now  ready 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  RESURRECTION.  253 

and  waiting  for  us,  and  not  in  the  distant  ages  of  the 
future.  Ai^F^  remarks,  after  Meyer,  "  The  present  Alfc 
is  used  of  the  time  at  which  the  dissolution  shall  have 
taken  placeJ^  Is  it  possible  to  understand  him  as 
meaning  that  there  will  be  a  vast  period  of  duration 
between  the  two  in  which  the  poor  naked  soul  shall 
"  have  "  neither  ? 

"  For  in  this  " — our  earthly  house, — "  we  do  groan, 
earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon" — (the  figure 
becomes  mixed,  being  partly  that  of  a  house,  and 
partly  that  of  a  garment),  "  with  our  house  which  is 
from  heaven."  The  meaning  is  that  we  have  an  earnest 
desire  to  put  on  that  new  body,  without  a  dissolution 
of  the  old  ;  i.  e.  without  having  to  encounter  the  pangs 
of  dying.  Then  he  throws  in  an  incidental  remark, 
having  reference,  probably,  to  those  whom  he  had 
combated  in  his  first  epistle  as  denying  that  there  is 
any  resurrection.  "Seeing  that," — (our  translation 
reads,  "  If  so  be  that," — which  seems  scarcely  intelli- 
gible) "WE  SHALL  REALLY  BE  FOUND  CLOTHED,  NOT 

NAKED."  "The  sense,"  says  Alford  is  this;  "For  I 
do  assert  again  that  we  shall  in  that  day  prove  to  be 
clothed  with  a  body,  and  not  disembodied  spirits.'' 
This  seems  to  be  a  direct,  positive,  explicit  declaration 
of  the  apostle  that  men  do  not  exist  after  death  as 
disembodied  spirits. 

He  then  proceeds,  taking  up  anew  the  Christian's 
longing  ;  "  For  we  that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan, 
being  burdened," — we  groan  heavily  or  deeply — "  not 
that  we  would  be  unclothed  but  clothed  upon,  that 
mortality  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life ;"  i.  e.  we  do 


254  THE  PABOUSIA. 

not  desire  to  be  divested  of  a  body,  but  that  our  new- 
abode,  like  a  garment,  might  be  put  on  over  the  old 
one ;  that  what  v^as  mortal  in  the  latter  might  be 
absorbed  (another  figure,  incongruous  with  the  other 
two  but  very  expressive)  by  the  immortal.  Indeed, 
he  adds,  to  this  very  result — the  losing  of  the  mortal 
in  the  immortal  God  has  been  working,  viz.,  in  our 
regeneration  and  sanctification,  the  first  fruits  of  which 
he  has  already  vouchsafed  us  in  the  gift  of  the  Spirit. 
Therefore,  he  repeats  the  confidence  before  expressed, 
that  whether  that  wish  could  be  fulfilled  or  not,  he  is 
ready  to  accept  the  alternative  of  putting  off  the  body 
and  passing  to  his  immortal  state  by  death,  seeing 
that  it  would  take  him  to  the  presence  of  his  Lord. 
"  Wherefore,"  he  says,  "  we  labor  that  whether  pres- 
ent "  in  this  mortal  body,  "  or  absent "  in  the  immor- 
tal body,  "we  may  be  accepted  of  him." 

Glancing  now  through  this  remarkable  and  extended 
passage  ;  observing  its  striking  figures,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  discover  precisely  how  the  subject  lay  in  the 
mind  of  the  apostle,  I  cannot  resist  the  conviction  that 
he  viewed  the  resurrection  in  a  manner  very  unlike 
that  of  the  traditional  theory ;  that  he  believed  the 
assumption  of  the  spiritual  body  would  immediately 
follow  the  demission  of  the  natural  body ;  not  occur- 
ring therefore  simultaneously  with  the  whole  family  of 
man,  nor  at  some  distant  "end  of  the  world,"  but 
successively,  as  individuals  live  and  die,  through  all 
the  ages  of  time  ; — coeval  therefore  in  its  beginning 
and  duration  with  the  Parousia  under  which  it  was  to 
occur. 


CHAPTER  II. 

RELATION  OF  THE  BESURRECTION  TO  THE  PAKOUSIA. 

Thus  far,  we  have  considered  the  Anastasis  sub- 
jectively, as  relating  to  men  themselves, — the  nature 
of  the  immortal  body  and  the  time  when  it  is  assumed. 
I  now  pass  to  inquire  into  its  objective  relations  to  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  and  especially  to  the  Parousia 
under  which  the  resurrection  occurs. 

SECTION  I. 
THE  PREPARED  PLACE. 

In  that  supreme  hour  of  most  intimate  and  tender 
communion,  in  the  upper  room  of  the  last  supper,  our 
Lord  for  the  first  time  disclosed  to  the  disciples  some- 
thing of  the  future  blessed  state  of  his  people.  Here- 
tofore he  had  spoken  mostly  of  their  duties  and  trials 
on  earth,  and  only  in  the  most  general  terms  of  the 
rewards  that  should  follow.  But  he  is  now  about  to 
leave  them.  The  sad  fact  is  announced,  and  the  gath- 
ering shadows  of  the  mysterious  tragedy  and  the 
dreadful  bereavement  already  fall  heavily  upon  their 
hearts.  Beyond  the  tomb,  as  their  thoughts  in  antici- 
pation go  with  their  departing  Lord,  they  see  little  to 
cheer  them.  Sheol,  the  place  of  the  dead  under  the 
earth,  with  its  insatiable  demands  (Ps.  89 :  48 ;  Prov. 
30 :  16)  and  its  barred  and  locked  doors  (Job  17  :  16  ; 

255 


25G  THE  PAnOUSIA. 

Rev.  1:  18)  was  to  a  ,lo\v  the  ideal  of  all  that  was 
gloomy,  even  though  the  later  teachings  of  the  Rabbis 
had  mitigated  somewhat  the  terrors  of  the  ancient 
views.  Compare  Luke  16 :  19-31  with  Job  10 :  21, 
22;  Eccl.  9:  10.  It  was,  then,  a  new  truth,  trans- 
cending all  they  had  ever  conceived  of,  when,  instead 
of  the  dark  under-world  whither  past  generations  had 
gone,  he  pointed  them  upward  to  the  glorious  dwelling 
place  of  God.  "In  my  Father's  house  are  many 
mansions — I  go  to  prepare  A  place  for  you.  And  if 
I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will  eonie  again  and 
receive  you  unto  myself,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye 
may  be  also." 

To  that  place,  therefore,  he  went  at  his  ascension. 
He  entered  not  into  the  holy  places  made  with  hands, 
which  were  the  figures  of  the  true,  but  into  heaven 
itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us. 
Heb.  9 :  24.  There  he  sat  down  upon  his  new  throne, 
where  henceforth  he  was  to  reign  forever.  We  need 
not  ask  too  curiously  just  where  that  place  is.  Possibly 
the  relations  of  the  spiritual  to  the  material  are  not 
such  as  to  permit  an  answer.  If  we  were  required  to 
form  a  conception  on  the  subject,  we  should  be  inclined 
to  locate  it  in  near  proximity  to  the  earth  itself.  I 
cannot  think  of  any  other  world,  amid  all  the  suns  and 
stars,  visible  or  invisible,  in  which  we  can  have  so  deep 
an  interest  as  this,  where  the  cross  was  set  up,  where 
the  Spirit  dwelt  with  men,  where  was  the  outer  and 
visible  kingdom  of  heaven.  Says  Isaac  Taylor,  "Our 
conjecture  is  that  within  the  field  occupied  by  the  visi- 
ble and  ponderable  univei*se,  and  on  all  sides  of  us,  there 


THE  PREPARED  PLACE.  257 

is  existing  and  moving  another  element,  fraught  with 
another  species  of  life — corporeal  indeed,  and  various 
in  its  orders,  but  not  open  to  the  cognizance  of  those 
who  are  confined  to  the  conditions  of  animal  organiza- 
tion ;  not  to  be  seen,  not  to  be  heard,  not  to  be  felt  by 
man."  »  If  we  may  adopt  such  a  conjecture  as  this, 
we  may  feel  that  even  here  in  the  flesh,  heaven  is  not 
far  away  from  us.  Were  the  veil  of  sense  rent  away, 
and  we  could  see  as  the  young  man  did  who  was  with 
Elisha  in  the  besieged  city,  we  might  behold  ourselves 
surrounded  with  its  inhabitants  and  its  glories.  "  Ye 
are  come,"  said  the  apostle,  "  unto  Mount  Zion,  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and 
to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first  born  which  are  written 
in  heaven."     Heb.  12 :  22. 

What  the  preparation  was  that  Christ  made  in  the 
place  to  which  he  ascended  for  the  reception  of  his 
people,  we  do  not  fully  know.  One  thing,  however, 
we  may  confidently  assert,  that,  by  entering  it  himself 
in  his  risen  state,  he  fitted  it  to  be  a  resurrection  world. 
It  is  not  a  place  of  disembodied  spirits.  He  himself 
is  not  there  as  such  a  sjnrit,  but  in  that  glorious  body 
which  is  the  exemplar  and  the  pledge  of  the  glorified 
bodies  of  his  saints.  The  common  idea  that  it  is  a 
world  of  pure  spirits— disemVjodied,  incorporeal,  naked, 
— has  no  warrant  in  either  reason  or  Scripture.  What- 
ever, therefore,  was  necessary  to  the  freest  communion 
between  him  in  this  glorious  incarnate  state  and  those 

» Physical  Theory  of  Another  Life,  chap.  xvii.     The  entire 
chapter  is  worthy  of  being  read  in  this  connection. 


258  THE  PABOUSIA. 

who  are  to  "  be  with  him," — whatever  of  structure  and 
scenery  and  organization  and  even  adornment  was 
required  to  make  it  a  fitting  world  for  their  abode  and 
felicity,  that,  we  may  be  sure,  he  provided. 

The  resurrection,  then,  in  its  complete  idea  is  not 
merely  a  new  existence  in  the  spiritual  body,  but  the 
reception  of  the  risen  saint  into  this  "  place  prepared  '* 
for  Christ's  people.  Of  the  former  all  are  partakers. 
"  There  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both  of  the 
just  and  the  unjust."  Acts  24 :  15.  The  latter  belongs 
only  to  those  who  by  faith  in  Christ  become  one  with 
him ;  members  of  his  body  ;  quickened  together  with 
him,  and  made  to  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

This  work  of  receiving  his  people  into  his  prepared 
place  is  that  which  Christ  as  the  Life-giver  performs 
in  his  Parousia.  "  If  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you, 
I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself^  that 
where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also."  It  is  described  in  1 
Cor.  15,  as  subdivided  into  three  stages,  of  which  his 
own  resurrection  and  ascension  is  one.  Christ  the  first 
fruits,  next  the  dead  in  Christ,  and  thirdly  those  who 
should  be  alive  at  his  coming. 

SECTION  n. 
THE  DEAD   IK  CHBIST. 

"  The  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first."  The  first  act 
of  the  glorified  Life-giver  is  to  receive  into  his  heavenly 
kingdom  those  of  his  own  people  who  had  deceased 
from  earth  prior  to  his  coming. 

There  are  three  different  phrases  by  which  those 


THE  DEAD  IN  CHBIST.  259 

here  meant  are  designated.  In  1  Cor.  15 :  23  it  is 
"  they  that  are  Christ's."  In  1  Thess.  4  :  14,  "  them 
that  sleep  in  Jesus,"  and  in  verse  16,  "the  dead  in 
Christ."  The  primary  reference,  undoubtedly,  is  to 
departed  Christians.  The  apostle  had  preached  to  the 
Thessalonians  the  near  approach  of  the  Parousia,  with 
all  the  blessed  hopes  connected  therewith,  so  that  it 
was  an  object  of  the  liveliest  expectation  among 
that  people.  But  some  of  the  believers  meanwhile 
had  died,  and  it  became  a  question  of  deep  anxiety 
with  the  survivors  as  to  whether  these  would  have  any 
share  in  the  expected  glories.  To  meet  this  anxiety, 
Paul  expressly  says  that  those  who  should  be  alive  at 
the  Parottsia  should  not  precede  those  who  slept.  For 
as  Christ  himself  had  died  and  risen  again,  so  God 
would  bring  those  that  slept  in  Jesus — (Ellicott  trans- 
lates "  those  laid  to  sleep  through  Jesus  ")  with  him. 
It  is  very  clear  that  in  this  case  departed  Christians 
only  are  referred  to. 

By  parity  of  reason,  however,  I  cannot  doubt  that 
all  the  pious  dead  of  the  former  dispensation  are 
included  in  the  same  promise.  For  these  all  belonged 
to  Christ.  Though  they  had  not  known  him  in  the 
flesh,  yet  they  had  seen  him  in  the  types  appointed  to 
represent  him,  and  had  accepted  him  by  faith." 
"  Abraham,"  said  Christ,  "  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and 
he  saw  it  and  was  glad."  The  fathers,  in  the  wilder- 
ness, drank  of  the  Spiritual  Rock,  which  was  Christ. 
1  Cor.  10 :  42.  And  collectively  of  the  saints  of  the 
former  age,  it  is  said,  "These  all  died  in  faith,  not 
having  received  the  promises,  but  having  seen  them 


260  THE  PAROUSIA. 

afar  off,  and  were  persuaded  of  them  and  embraced 
them."     Heb.  11 :  13. 

All  those,  therefore,  who  through  faith  in  Jesus 
were  sleeping  in  hope,  should  attain  their  completed 
resurrection  at  his  Parousia.  Let  as  note  the  recorded 
steps  of  that  great  transaction. 

"  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from^  heaven  with 
a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the 
trump  of  God."  1  Thess.  4:  16.  In  the  parallel 
passage  in  1  Cor.  15 :  52  only  one  of  these  particulars 
is  mentioned, — "  at  the  last  trump  ;  for  the  trumpet 
shall  sound."  I  cannot  doubt  that  this  is  the  same 
thing  that  is  described  by  Christ  himself  in  Matt.  24 : 
30.  "  They  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  the 
clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory ;  he  shall 
send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet."  I 
have  already  given  my  reasons  for  regarding  this  lan- 
guage as  the  costume  under  which  Christ's  assumption 
of  his  new  kingdom  is  presented  (see  pp.  80-89);  and 
also  as  being  fulfilled,  or  beginning  to  be  fulfilled,  as 
was  expressly  declared  it  should  be,  in  that  existing 
generation  (pp.  25-72).  To  assume  that  any  other 
event  or  period  is  intended  is  utterly  without  warrant. 
Besides,  the  immediate  connection  shows  that  the 
apostle  referred  to  a  near  event.  He  was  expecting 
that  both  himself  and  his  brethren  would  live  to  see 
it,  and  describes  what  should  happen  to  those  that  did, 
founding  thereon  those  earnest  words  of  comfort  and 
warning  which  are  contained  in  the  chapter  following. 

"  And  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first."  This  is 
not  the  "  first  resurrection  "  mentioned  in  Rev.  20 :  5  ; 


THE  BEAD  IN  CHRIST.  261 

as  Ellicott  says,  "  not  with  any  reference  to  "  that, 
"  but,  as  the  following  then — inecra — siiggests,  only  to 
the  fact  that  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  in  Christ 
shall  be  prior  to  the  assumption  of  the  living."  I 
understand  by  this,  that  the  first  act  of  Christ  in  his 
kingly  glory,  was  to  bring  into  his  '^  prepared  place  " 
the  whole  number  of  the  pious  dead  who  had  departed 
before  that  event.  They  had  indeed  survived  death 
and  were  existing  in  the  ethereal  and  immortal  bodies 
which  they  had  then  put  on,  but  they  had  not  been 
received  into  the  "  many  mansions  "  appointed  to  be 
the  final  abode  of  the  blessed,  and  which  had  been 
"prepared"  for  their  reception  only  when  Christ 
ascended  thither  in  his  own  resurrection  body.  In 
this  blessed  assumption  to  his  own  dwelling  place,  was 
their  resurrection  complete.  The  former  was  indeed 
a  resurrection  from  the  grave ;  the  latter  alone,  was  a 
resurrection  to  everlasting  life. 

Where,  then,  if  the  departed  saints  of  the  elder 
time  had  risen  from  the  dead,  but  had  not  been  received 
to  the  Christian  heaven,  had  they  been  ?  We  answer, 
In  Hades, 

Hades, — in  Hebrew,  Sheol, — was  in  the  belief  of 
the  Jews  the  place  of  the  departed,  where  they  were 
detained  while  awaiting  the  final  judgment.  The 
clearest  view  of  it  given  us  in  the  New  Testament  is 
in  our  Saviour's  narrative  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Laz- 
arus, a  narrative  which  must  be  regarded  as  confirm- 
ing it,  in  its  main  features,  as  a  reality.  Hades  was 
a  place  of  happiness  or  suffering  according  to  the 
characters  of  its   inmates,  but  both   these,  with  the 


262  THE  PAROUSIA. 

place  itself  were  regarded  as  temporary,  the  one  to  be 
succeeded,  after  the  judgment,  by  the  final  blessedness 
of  heaven,  the  other  by  the  lake  of  fire  which  is  the 
second  death. 

It  has  been  the  opinion  of  many  interpreters, 
especially  in  the  Roman  and  Anglican  churches,  that 
Christ  at  his  death  visited  this  world  of  the  departed 
— as  it  is  expressed  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  "He 
descended  into  Hell."  His  purpose  in  so  doing  is 
described  to  have  been  to  announce  to  the  souls 
detained  there  the  completion  of  his  work  of  redemp- 
tion, and  then  gathering  his  saints  unto  him,  to  burst 
the  gates  of  that  waiting  place  and  ascend  with  them 
to  his  throne  in  glory.  This  theory  is  founded  chiefl}' 
on  the  two  passages  occurring  in  1  Peter  3 :  19 ;  4:6. 
It  is  probably  alluded  to  in  the  ancient  hymn  of  the 
"  Te  Deum,"  "  When  thou  hadst  overcome  the  sharp- 
ness of  death,  thou  didst  open  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
to  all  believers.*' 

Whether  this  theory  in  all  its  details  be  accepted  or 
not,  the  conclusion  of  it  harmonizes  remarkably  with 
what  I  have  conceived  to  be  the  meaning  of  this  res- 
urrection of  the  departed  saints  at  Christ's  Parousia. 
To  this  the  apostle  seems  to  refer  in  describing  the 
incomplete  state  of  these  saints  in  Heb.  11.  "  These 
all,  having  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  re- 
ceived not  the  promise,''^  i.  e.,  says  Alford,  "The  Pkom- 
ISE,  by  eminence,  the  promise  of  final  salvation." — 
"God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for  us,  that 
they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect."  Alford 
continues,   "We  must  understand  by  the  expression 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  LIVING.  263 

something  better  than  they  had,  viz :  the  enjoyment 
here  of  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise,  which  they  never 
had  here,  and  only  have  there  since  Christ's  descent 
into  Hades  and  ascension  into  Heaven." — "  The  writer 
implies,  as  indeed,  ch.  10 :  14  seems  to  testify,  that 
the  advent  and  work  of  Christ  has  changed  the  state 
of  the  O.  T.  fathers  and  saints  into  greater  and  per- 
fect bliss ;  an  inference  which  is  forced  on  us  by  many 
other  places  in  Scripture,  so  that  the  result  with  regard 
to  them  is,  that  their  spirits,  from  the  time  when  Christ 
descended  into  Hades  and  ascended  up  into  Heaven, 
enjoy  heavenly  blessedness."  So  likewise  in  Heb. 
12 ;  23.  "  Ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion  and  unto 
the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  gen- 
eral assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  which  are 
written  in  heaven,  and  to  God,  the  Judge  of  all,  and 
to  the  spirits  of  Just  men  made  perfect^  and  to  Jesus 
the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant."  Such  was  the 
place  prepared  by  the  ascended  Redeemer  for  his  peo- 
ple ;  such  the  society  to  which  it  admits  them ;  there 
already  was  the  church  of  the  first-born, — the  spirits 
of  the  just  perfected  in  the  glorious  bodies  of  the  res- 
urrection state,with  Jesus  himself,  the  mediator,  in  his 
risen  body  still  bearing  the  marks  of  that  great  sacri- 
fice which  signified  better  things  than  the  blood  of 
Abel. 

SECTION  III. 
THE  CHANGE  OF   THE  LIVING. 

"  Then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  [unto  the 


264  THE  PABOUSIA. 

coming — Parousia — of  the  Lord:  verse  15]  shall  be 
caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds  to  meet 
the  Lord  in  the  air."  1  Thess.  4 :  17.  "  We  shall  not 
all  sleep  but  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last  trump."  1  Cor. 
15:  51-2. 

The  bearing  of  this  passage  on  the  time  of  the  Par- 
ousia I  have  before  discussed.  See  pp.  34-36.  That 
Paul  included  himself  and  the  Thessalonians  as  among 
the  "living"  at  that  time,  most  commentators  now 
admit.  The  Greek  word  translated  "which  remain'* 
—of  7T£pd£(7r6j^£POi—ssijs  Ellicott,  "is  simply  and  purely 
present. — At  the  time  of  writing  these  words  St.  Paul 
was  one  of  the  'living'  and  'remaining,'  and  as  such  he 
distinguishes  himself  from  the  'sleeping'  and  naturally 
identifies  himself  with  the  class  to  which  he  then  be- 
longed."    It  is  affirmed  of  these  : — 

1.  That  they  shall  ^'not  sleep.^''  That  is,  they  shall 
not,  as  those  before  them,  descend  into  Hades,  there 
to  wait  for  Christ's  coming.  They  shall  pass  directly 
to  his  presence,  without  going  through  that  interme- 
diate place.  Is  not  this  the  meaning  of  Christ's  words 
to  Martha,  "  He  that  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall 
never  die  .^"  We  should  remember  what  death  was  to 
the  apprehension  of  a  Jew ;  how  drear  and  forbidding 
the  dark  under-world  into  which  it  would  introduce 
him,  to  have  any  realization  of  what  such  a  promise 
would  be  to  him.  It  does  not  mean  that  the  body 
would  not  be  put  off  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature, 
but  that  this  would  no  longer  be  death.     It  would  be 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  LIVING.  265 

as   the    apostle  termed  it,    "to   depart  and   be    with 
Christ."     Henceforth 

"There  is  no  death;  what  seems  so  is  transition." 

"By  the  death  of  Christ,"  says  Alford  (2  Tim. 
1 :  10),  "Death  has  lost  his  sting,  and  is  henceforth  of 
no  more  account ;  consequently,  the  mere  act  of  natu- 
ral death  is  evermore  treated  by  the  Lord  himself  and 
his  apostles,  as  of  no  account  (compare  John  11 :  26  ; 
Rom.  8 :  2,  38 ;  1  Cor.  15 :  55;  Heb.  2 :  14),  and  its 
actual  and  total  abolition  foretold ;  Rev.  21 :  4." 

2.  That  they  shall  be  changed  instantaneously. 
This  appears  still  to  be  in  contrast  with  the  state  of 
the  sleepers.  A  long  time  elapsed  after  they  dropped 
the  natural  body,  before  they  arose  from  Hades  into 
the  light  and  blessedness  of  heaven.  But  Christians 
who  live  in  and  under  the  Parousia  shall  pass  thither 
directly.  The  change  shall  be  "in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye."  Observe :  it  is  not  said  that  all 
shall  be  changed  in  the  same  moment ;  that  it  shall  be 
simultaneous  with  the  whole  body  of  Christians  who 
shall  live  under  the  Parousia.  It  could  not  be,  in 
fact,  because  all  do  not  live  at  the  same  time.  Gen- 
eration shall  succeed  generation  through  all  the  ages. 
Each  individual,  as  he  completes  this  life  of  probation 
shall,  when  the  Lord  calls  him,  pass  at  once  to  his 
"place"  in  the  many  mansions. 

**One  gentle  sigh  his  fetters  breaks; 

We  scarce  can  say,  'He's  gone!' 
Before  the  willing  spirit  takes 

Its  mansion  near  the  throne." 


266  THE  PABOUSIA. 

3.  That  they  shall  be  caught  up  in  the  clouds  into 
the  air.  Of  course  this  is  at  the  time  of  the  change. 
The  form  of  speech  is  apparently  taken  from  the  trans- 
lation of  the  prophet  Elijah.  As  he  did  not  die  but 
was  caught  up  in  a  chariot  of  fire  and  cloud  into 
heaven,  so  Christians  will  be  rapt  away  in  glorious 
cloud  chariots, — "the  clouds  forming  the  element  with 
which  they  would  be  surrounded,  and  in  which  they 
would  be  borne  up  to  meet  their  coming  Lord.  The 
transformation  specified  in  1  Cor.  25  :  52,  53,  will  nec- 
essarily first  take  place,  upon  which  the  glorified  and 
luciform  body  will  be  caught  up  in  the  enveloping 
and  up-bearing  clouds."  Ellicott.  Need  it  be  said 
that  these  are  not  the  clouds  of  our  material  atmos- 
phere ?  The  expression  "into  the  air,"  conforms  evi- 
dently to  popular  apprehension,  as  when  we  speak  of 
going  up  to  heaven.  Says  Ellicott,  "The  air,  as  de 
Wette  well  observes,  marks  the  way  to  heaven^ 

4.  This  change  of  the  living  shall  be, — that  is  he- 
gin  to  be, — at  the  same  time  that  the  sleepers  in  Christ 
are  taken  up  to  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  "Caught 
up  together  with  them  ;  i.  e.,  says  Ellicott,  "  we  shall 
be  caught  up  with  them  at  the  same  time  that  they 
shall  be  caught  up."  Paul  had  just  before  said  that 
those  who  were  living  at  the  time  of  the  Parousia 
should  not  precede  the  sleepers ;  so  now  he  says  the 
sleepers  shall  not  precede  the  living.  Those  from 
Hades,  these  from  time  ;  the  former  after  long  waiting, 
the  latter  instantaneously,  shall  experience  the  full 
power  of  the  resurrection,  being  ushered  together  into 
the  presence  of  the  glorified  and  now  coming  Messiah. 


^^    THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  LIVING.  267 

5.  Both  these  events  shall  be  at  his  coming  in  his 
Parousia.  The  risen  dead  and  the  changed  living 
shall  be  caught  up  together  to  meet  him  in  that  com- 
ing. The  apostle  adds,  "  So  shall  we  ever  be  with  the 
Lord."  This  shall  be  the  fulfillment  of  his  promise 
and  of  his  prayer,  that  they  whom  the  Father  had  giv- 
en him  should  be  with  him  where  he  is  to  behold  his 
glory.     John  17  :  24. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  this  grand  series 
of  events  occurs  wholly  in  the  invisible  world.  The 
coming  of  Christ  with  his  angels,  the  blowing  of  the 
trumpet,  the  ascension  of  the  risen  sleepers,  the  instan- 
taneous change  of  those  living  under  the  Parousia 
and  their  assumption  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air, — all 
these  are  spiritual  events,  above  the  sphere  of  sense. 
Their  indices  appear  here  in  the  changed  aspect  of 
death  to  Christ's  people,  the  radiant  peace  which  fills 

"The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate," 

and  in  the  dear  remains  which  we  so  tenderly  lay  away 
in  the  earth  whence  they  were  taken,  but  their  occur- 
rence as  facts  lies  within  the  veil,  to  be  first  seen  by 
the  Christian  only  when  the  Saviour  comes  to  him,  to 
receive  him  to  himself. 


I  am  very  sensible  how  far  the  view  I  have  given 
above  of  these  difficult  passages  differs  from  the  tra- 
ditional doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  Differs  in  form, 
I  mean ;  for  I  trust  it  is  not  inferior  to  it  in  its  deep- 
est significance  and  force.  We  may,  perhaps,  be  helped 


268  THE  PAROUSIA. 

to  a  clearer  estimate  of  its  merits  by  glancing  for  a 
moment  at  the  chief  features  of  this  traditional  doc- 
trine. 

It  is  founded,  as  all  know,  on  the  literal  acceptation 
of  the  scripture  language  in  its  baldest,  most  material 
sense.  Of  the  signification  of  that  language  as  used 
by  the  Jews  in  Christ's  day,  of  their  belief  respecting 
death  and  Hades,  and  of  the  relations  between  those 
who  lived  before  and  after  Christ's  own  death  and 
resurrection,  no  account  seems  to  be  made.  The  body 
is  this  material  frame,  of  bones  and  flesh  and  blood. 
Christ  will  come  in  the  clouds  of  our  atmosphere,  with 
an  angel  blowing  a  trumpet,  and  with  a  loud  voice 
will  address  the  generations  of  the  dead  and  bid  them 
come  forth  out  of  the  graves.  Let  a  learned  divine 
and  poet  of  the  last  century  describe  to  us  the  scene 
that  shall  follow. 

"Now  monuments  prove  faithful  to  tlieir  trust 
And  render  back  their  long  committed  dust; 
Now  charnels  rattle ;  scattered  limbs  and  all 
The  various  bones,  obsequious  to  the  call, 
Self-moved  advance ;  the  neck,  perhaps,  to  meet 
The  distant  head ;  the  distant  head  the  feet. 
Dreadful  to  view !  see,  though  the  dusky  sky- 
Fragments  of  bodies  in  confusion  fly. 
To  distant  regions  journeying,  there  to  claim 
Deserted  members  and  complete  the  frame. 
The  severed  head  and  trunk  shall  join  once  more, 
Though  realms  now  rise  between  and  oceans  roar; 
The  trumpet  sound  each  vagrant  mote  shall  hear, 
Or  fixed  in  earth,  or  if  afloat  in  air. 
Obey  the  signal  wafted  in  the  wind. 
And  not  one  sleeping  atom  lag  behind. 
So  swarming  bees  that,  on  a  summer's  day, 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  LIVING.  269 

In  airy  rings  and  wild  meanders  play, 

Charmed  with  the  brazen  sound  their  wanderings  end, 

And  gently  circling  on  a  bough  descend." 

The  Last  Day,  by  Dr.  Young. 

This  gross,  mediaeval  conception  of  the  resurrection 
has  doubtless  been  more  or  less  modified  in  our  own 
day.  President  Dwight,  for  instance,  discarded  the 
idea  that  the  resurrection  body  is  the  same  as  this  mortal 
body,  either  in  the  particles  that  compose  it  or  the 
constitution,  arrangement,  and  qualities  of  its  elements. 
"  Reason,"  says  he,  "  decides  with  absolute  certainty 
that  a  constitution  which  involves  in  its  nature  decay 
and  termination  cannot  belong  to  a  body  destined  for 
the  residence  of  an  immortal  and  ever  vigorous  mind." 
This  was  a  vast  innovation  upon  the  ancient  opinions. 
Had  the  learned  President  followed  out  his  own 
reasonings,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  he  would  in  like 
manner  have  rescued  the  remainder  of  the  doctrine 
from  its  repulsive  materialistic  aspects. 

It  is  still  generally  held  that  the  resurrection  is  to 
be  simultaneous,  at  the  far  distant  "  end  of  the  world," 
at  the  visible  appearance  of  the  Lord  in  the  clouds  to 
judge  both  the  living  and  the  dead.  All  this,  as 
before  said,  is  built  up  on  the  mere  costume  of  descrip- 
tions relating  to  events  which  I  have  endeavored  to 
show  are  now  long  past.  The  only  coming  of  the  Lord 
in  the  clouds  that  men  were  bidden  to  expect,  they 
were  also  bidden  to  look  for  in  the  generation  then 
existing.  The  only  end  of  the  world  ever  spoken  of, 
was  that  which  the  apostle  declared  to  be  at  hand.  1 
Pet.  4 :  7.^ 

»  "  The  apostles,  it  is  urged,  looked  for  an  immediate  *  end  of 


270  THE  PAROUSIA. 

The  theory  of  a  far  distant  simultaneous  resurrec- 
tion involves  difficulties  of  the  very  gravest  magni- 
tude. It  necessitates  a  belief  in  the  extinction  of  the 
soul  at  death,  or  in  the  existence  of  a  world  of  disem- 
bodied, naked  spirits.  The  former  of  these  is  ahke  ab- 
horrent to  all  the  instincts  and  hopes  of  men,  and  con- 
trary to  all  the  teacliings  of  the  Bible.  The  latter,  as 
I  have  tried  to  show,  is  opposed  to  all  we  know  of  the 
nature  of  man,  and  all  we  know  of  the  nature  and 
state  of  the  heavenly  world.  It  is  inconsistent,  more- 
over, with  the  very  idea  of  a  resurrection  as  involving 
the  continuation  of  personality.  It  destroys  that  bond 
of  vital  union  with  Christ,  our  risen  and  glorified 
Lord,  out  of  which  our  resurrection  comes  as  a  direct 
consequence.  That  union,  as  Prof.  Reuss  says,  is  "the 
fundamental  idea"  of  the  apostle's  doctrine  of  the  res- 
urrection. ''  The  theory,"  he  says  further,  "of  a  uni- 
versal and  simultaneous  resurrection  is  in  fact  taken 
from  Judeo-Christianity,  and  harmonizes  but  ill  with 

the  world,'  and  the  event  shews  that  they  were  in  error.  Yet 
to  any  one  who  really  penetrates  below  the  surface  of  the  first 
age,  it  will  be  equally  evident  that  the  '  end  of  the  world  '  was 
expected  and  that  it  really  came.  It  is  possible  that  the  apostles 
themselves,  like  the  prophets  in  earlier  times,  did  not  realize 
the  mode  in  which  their  expectations  would  be  fulfilled;  it  is 
certain  that  many  who  heard  them  affixed  false  and  chimerical 
interpretations  to  their  teaching ;  but  in  the  light  of  Christian 
history  their  written  words  were  fully  accomplished.  The 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  '  the  meeting  of  the  ages '  [1  Cor. 
10:  11]  the  death  of  the  'old  world'  and  the  birth  of  the  'new 
world.'  The  Lord  '  came '  when  the  acknowledged  center  of 
*  the  people  of  God  '  was  desolated.  A  spiritual  and  universal 
presence  [Parousia]  was  substituted  for  a  material  and  local 
presence."     Westcott,  p.  218. 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  LIVING.  271 

the  system  of  Paul  which  rests  upon  wholly  different 
foundations.  We  shall  not  be  astonished  to  find  the 
religious  consciousness  of  the  apostle  shaking  off  at 
times  the  fetters  imposed  upon  it  by  this  doctrine, 
and  seeking  a  solution  more  in  accordance  with  the 
premises  of  his  own  system.  Thus  the  present  life, 
which  is  represented  as  a  temporary  sojourn  in  a  body 
which  binds  us  to  earth,  is  called  absence,  a  separation 
from  our  true  home  which  is  with  Christ.  To  be 
parted  from  this  body  is  to  be  joined  to  Christ ;  it  is 
to  find  the  home  for  which  our  hearts  sigh.  By  these 
same  terms  the  idea  of  an  intermediate  state  is  set 
aside ;  there  is  no  more  room  for  it ;  but  the  idea  of  a 
universal  and  simultaneous  resurrection  is  rendered 
untenable  also^  Vol.  II,  p.  198.  In  like  manner  the 
late  Prof.  E.  T.  Fitch  of  Yale  College  says,  "The  res- 
urrection of  the  body  spoken  of  in  1  Cor.  15,  is  not 
the  re-animation  of  the  organized  body  that  was  laid 
down  in  the  grave,  but  rather  the  gift  to  the  soul  of 
a  far  different  body  like  that  of  the  glorified  Jesus, 
not  of  flesh  and  blood  as  before,  but  fashioned  glori- 
ously, such  as  Christians  who  remain  alive  at  the  com- 
ing of  Christ  will  receive  by  miraculous  change. 
Hence,  it  is  not  so  obvious  as  might  at  first  appear 
that  these  spiritual  bodies  of  the  saints  are  not  given 
to  them  at  death.^''     N.  Englander,  vol.  XXV. 

And  says  Prof.  Reuss,  "  A  natural  consequence  of 
what  has  been  said  as  to  the  intimate  connection  be- 
tween faith  and  the  resurrection  is,  that  there  can  be 
no  interval  between  the  present  life  and  the  future, — 
between  death  and  the  resurrection  in  the  gospel  sense 


272  THE  PAROUSIA. 

of  the  latter.  If  faith  is  the  cause  of  life,  the  effect 
must  follow  wherever  the  cause  exists  and  operates. 
If  the  bond  between  the  cause  and  effect  could  be 
broken,  the  cause  would  remain  forever  dead  and 
barren." 

It  is  very  possible  that  we  shall  be  warned  of  the 
danger  of  entertaining  the  views  here  advanced,  from 
the  condemnation  pronounced  by  the  apostle  upon 
Hymenseus  and  Philetus,  "who  concerning  the  truth 
have  erred,  saying  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already, 
and  overthrow  the  faith  of  some."  To  this  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  reply  that  the  doctrine  they  taught  was 
very  different  from  ours.  They  understood  the  res- 
urrection to  be  merely  man's  escape  from  ignorance 
by  faith  in  Christ,  which  was  consummated  in  baptism.* 
The  real  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  they  denied 
altogether. 

*Tertullian  described  it  as  "  ignorantise  morte  discussa, 
velut  de  sepulcro  veteris  hominis  eruperit ; — exinde  ergo  resur- 
rectionem  fide  consecutos  cum  Domino  esse  cum  eum  in  baptis- 
mate  indueiint."     Quoted  in  Alford. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  RESURRECTION  LIFE. 

There  are  certain  practical  inferences  suggested  by 
the  foregoing  views  which,  though  not  sufficiently- 
established  by  positive  scripture  teaching  to  be  regard- 
ed as  doctrine,  seem  to  be  highly  probable,  and  fraught 
with  much  that  is  both  comforting  and  admonitory  in 
the  anticipation  of  the  future  life. 

1.  The  first  is  that  the  spiritual  body,  the  ethereal 
investiture  of  the  psyche  or  soul,  having  its  germinal 
existence  in  the  present  body  and  emerging  therefrom 
with  the  soul  at  death,  retains  in  the  resurrection  state 
the  present  human  form.  The  authorities  cited  by 
Mr.  Cook  as  having  demonstrated  its  present  existence 
teach  that  it  has  that  form  now ;  that  could  it  be  dis- 
solved out  of  the  animal  structure,  as  the  osseous  and 
muscular  system,  the  veins,  the  arteries,  and  the  nerves 
might  be,  it  would  be  every  wliere  coincident  with  the 
human  physical  outline.  P.  225.  In  the  scene  of 
tlie  transfiguration,  not  only  Christ  himself  but  Moses 
and  Elijah  evidently  had  that  form.  The  Saviour 
appeared  in  it  to  St.  John  in  Patmos.  Even  the  angels 
are  always  represented  in  the  same  manner.  "We 
assume,"  says  Mr.  Taylor,  "  that  the  apparent  import 
of  some  passages  and  phrases  of  Scripture  tends  to 
suggest  the  belief  that  the  die  of  human  nature,  as  to 

13  273 


274  THE  PABOUSIA. 

its  form  and  figure,  is  to  be  used  again  in  a  new  world. 
Partly  on  the  ground  of  inferences  from  general  prin- 
ciples, and  partly  on  the  strength  of  particular  asser- 
tions, we  suppose  that  the  fair  and  faultless  paradisaical 
model  of  human  beauty  and  majesty,  which  stood  forth 
as  the  most  illustrious  instance  of  creative  wisdom — 
the  bright  gem  of  the  visible  world — this  form,  too, 
which  has  been  borne  and  consecrated  by  incarnate 
Deity — that  it  shall  at  length  regain  its  forfeited  hon- 
ors and  once  more  be  pronounced  '  very  good,'  so  good 
as  to  forbid  its  being  superseded  ;  on  the  contrary, 
that  it  shall  be  reinstated  and  allowed,  after  its  long 
degradation,  to  enjoy  its  birthright  of  immortality."  ^ 
2.  The  second  inference,  in  the  same  direction,  is 
that  having  the  human  form,  that  spiritual  body  will 
wear,  sufficiently  at  least  for  recognition,  the  features 
of  the  present  body.  President  Dwight,  in  his  sermon 
on  the  resurrection,  says,  "  That  the  body  will  be  the 
same,  in  such  a  sense  as  to  be  known,  appears  suffi- 
ciently evident  from  the  Scriptures.  Mankind  will 
know  each  other  in  the  future  world,  and  their  bodies 
will  be  so  far  the  same  as  to  become  the  means  of  this 
knowledge."  Vol.  IV.  pp.  434,  5.  Here,  then,  we 
find  an  answer  to  the  question  so  often  wrung  from" 
bereaved  and  sorrowing  hearts,  "  Shall  we  know  our 
friends  in  heaven  ?  " — a  question  forced  upon  them  by 
the  defectiveness  of  our  traditional  ideas  of  the  resur- 
rection. It  is  impossible  to  frame  a  definite  concep- 
tion of  a  disembodied  spirit.  Form  and  features  are 
the   result   of  extension,    and    that  is  a  property  of 

*  Physical  Theory,  Chapter  xi. 


THE  RESURRECTION  LIFE.  275 

matter.  The  attributes  of  spirit  are  thought,  feeling, 
volition,  but  these  do  not  constitute  personality. 
There  is  nothing  in  such  case  for  the  imagination,  the 
creative  faculty  of  the  mind,  to  lay  hold  of  and  shape 
into  a  conception  which  it  can  think  of,  much  less 
can  view  as  corresponding  to  an  actually  existing  being. 
Therefore,  to  ordinary  apprehension  the  heavenly 
world  is  a  realm  of  shadows,  and  the  broken  heart 
turning  back  from  its  cheerless  emptiness  cries  out 
piteously  for  any  evidence  that  the  dear  departed  can 
ever  be  known.  But  if  the  soul  goes  forth  not  un- 
clothed but  arrayed  in  its  glorious  spiritual  body, 
bearing  the  known  and  loved  features  of  this  life  with 
their  expression  only  intensified  by  the  perfection  they 
will  have  attained  in  putting  on  immortality,  then  the 
recognition  will  be  even  more  easy  than  here  on  earth. 

3.  So,  thirdly,  the  conditions  are  realized  upon 
which  society/  becomes  possible.  As  the  risen  saint 
can  ''  be  with  "  his  risen  Lord,  so  risen  saints  can  be 
with  each  other.  There  can  be  intercourse  and  com- 
munion between  them.  They  can  together  worship 
and  serve.  From  the  East  and  the  West  they  can 
come  and  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Heaven  becomes  a  commu- 
nity ;  its  inmates  members  of  the  family  of  Christ,  one 
in  him  as  he  is  one  with  the  Father. 

4.  It  does  not  seem  impossible  or  improbable  that 
the  relationships  of  the  present  world,  in  their  spiritual 
aspects  at  least,  may  be  continued  in  the  resurrection 
life.  Have  not  the  words  of  Christ  in  reply  to  the  Sad- 
ducees  been  pressed  beyond  his  intended  meaning? 


276  THE  PAROUSIA. 

In  that  life  "  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  mar- 
riage, but  are  as  the  angels."  But  that  is  not  saying 
that  the  effects  of  this  first  of  all  earthly  relations  do 
not  continue.  The  work  of  probation  was  very  largely 
wrought  out  through  these  very  relations.  The  mother 
is  often  as  truly  a  mother  to  her  son's  spiritual  as  to 
his  earthly  life.  Husband  and  wife  who  were  really 
united  in  love,  and  for  twenty,  forty,  and  sometimes 
sixty  years  lived  together  in  the  most  intimate  of  all 
ties, — working  together  in  the  common  tasks  of  life, 
and  sharing  together  in  all  its  outward  experiences, 
become  so  molded  to  each  other  and  assimilated  in 
all  the  elements  of  their  being,  that  they  are  spiritually 
one.  It  is  a  species  of  violence  even  to  conceive  of 
all  this  so  done  away  as  to  render  these  two  persons 
no  more  or  different  towards  each  other  in  the  heavenly 
state  than  towards  any  others.  So.  with  the  difference 
of  sex.  In  it,  probably  more  than  any  one  thing  of 
time,  are  the  causes  which  determine  human  character. 
How  is  it  possible  that  a  retribution  which  consists  in 
the  fruits  of  an  earthly  probation  should  show  no  cor- 
respondence to  these  earthly  peculiarities?  How  can 
it  be  true  that  "  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall 
he  also  reap,"  if  the  reaping  do  not  bear  some  distinct 
and  recognizable  marks  of  the  sowing  ? 

In  the  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  body,  then,  as  now 
exhibited,  we  see  a  ground  for  anticipating  the  contin- 
uance, in  all  their  spiritual  aspects  and  results,  of  the 
present  relationships  of  life.  We  do  not  believe  that 
all  the  pure  loves,  the  tender  sympathies,  the  sweet 
companionships  of  time,  which  give  to  life  here  its 


THE  BESUBBECTION  LIFE.  277 

chiefest  enjoyments,  are  to  perish  with  the  expiring 
breath.  We  cannot  reprove  as  unfounded  the  yearn- 
ing of  the  mother  for  the  meeting  with  her  little  one 
at  the  portals  of  the  heavenly  mansions.  Rather  is  it 
the  very  inspiration  of  Christian  hope  which  sings : — 

"  She  is  not  dead, — the  child  of  our  affection — 

But  gone  unto  that  school 
Where  she  no  longer  needs  our  poor  protection 

And  Christ  himself  doth  rule. 

*'In  that  great  cloister's  stillness  and  seclusion, 

By  guardian  angels  led, 
Safe  from  temptation,  safe  from  sin's  pollution, 

She  lives  whom  we  call  dead. 

"Day  after  day  we  think  what  she  is  doing 

In  those  bright  realms  of  air ; 
Tear  after  year  her  tender  steps  pursuing, 

Behold  her  grown  more  fair. 

"  Thus  do  we  walk  with  her  and  keep  unbroken 

The  bond  which  nature  gives, 
Thinking  that  our  remembrance  though  unspoken 

May  reach  her  where  she  lives." 

So  with  all  the  other  ties  of  nature.  Because  they  are 
such  we  believe  them  to  be  immortal.  Were  there  no 
other  proof  of  this,  the  very  fact  that  our  Lord  liim- 
self  was  born  into  these  human  relationships  and  sanc- 
tified them  by  his  divine  experience  would  be  to  us  a 
pledge  of  their  perpetuity.  He  will  no  more  cease  to 
be  the  Son  of  Man,  than  he  can  cease  to  be  the  Son 
of  God. 

6.  In  fine,  we  may  conclude  from  all  these  consid- 
erations, that  the  heavenly  world  is  much  nearer  to  us, 
not  only  in  space  and  time  but  also  in  its  essential 
nature,  than  we  have  been  wont  to  imagine.    Though 


278  THE  PABOUSIA. 

it  be  a  spiritual  world,  it  is  yet  a  world  of  substance. 
If  its  inhabitants  are  in  part  human  beings  glorified, 
is  it  too  much  to  infer  that  its  scenery,  its  employments, 
its  joys,  are  those  of  earth  glorified?  Is  there  no 
meaning  in  the  description  of  a  heavenly  city,  with 
streets  and  houses,  and  a  river  of  life,  and  fruit  bear- 
ing trees,  and  white  robes,  and  palm  branches  of 
victory,  and  harps,  and  vials  of  odors,  and  all  manner 
of  precious  stones,  and  the  bread  and  the  new  wine  of 
the  kingdom,  of  which  the  Lord  will  partake  with  his 
people  ?  For  disembodied  spirits,  indeed,  having  no 
element  to  connect  them  with  a  material  universe,  all 
these  can  have  no  appreciable  meaning.  But  to  those 
who  have  been  made  like  to  Christ  in  his  resurrection 
body,  they  may  all  be  as  real  as  that  body  itself.  They 
give  us  glimpses  of  a  world  having  substance  and 
color  and  warmth  ;  a  world  that  we  can  think  of ;  with 
pleasures  and  businesses  that  we  can  anticipate, 
instead  of  formless  shadows  and  mirages  as  unsubstan- 
tial as  the  fancies  of  a  dream. 

6.  At  the  same  time,  we  have  a  substantial  basis 
on  which  to  build  those  conceptions  of  a  life  higher 
than  this  of  earth,  which  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  in 
heaven.  For  as  the  spiritual  body  excels  the  fleshly 
in  all  the  elements  of  beauty  and  strength  and  capacity, 
so  we  may  believe  that  its  separate  experience  both 
active  and  passive  will  be  immeasurably  superior  to 
that  of  the  present  life.  Mr.  Isaac  Taylor  has  drawn 
out  the  supposed  particulars  of  such  a  condition  in  his 
"  Physical  Theory  of  Another  Life,"  a  work  in  which 
the  boldest  conjecture  is  mingled  with  the  most  careful 


THE  EESUBEECTION  LIFE.  279 

philosophy,  in  sketching  the  consequences  which  may 
be  conceived  to  follow  the  substitution  of  a  spiritual 
for  the  present  animal  body.  They  are,  to  state  them 
in  our  own  words,  1.  An  enlarged  power  of  mind 
over  matter,  such  as  shall  enable  one  to  move  at  will 
through  the  physical  universe.  2.  A  direct  percep- 
tion and  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  of  that  universe. 
3.  An  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  interior  nature  and 
properties  of  all  matter.  4.  A  perfect  memory.  5. 
The  power  of  incessant  mental  activity.  6.  The 
power  to  carry  on  many  processes  of  thought  at  the 
same  time.  7.  An  intuitive  perception  of  abstract 
truth,  however  complicated.  8.  The  power  of  exact 
infallible  utterance,  in  other  words,  a  perfect  language. 
9.  The  body  a  perfect  instrument  and  servant  of  the 
mind. 

I  could  not,  if  I  attempted,  develop  the  consequences 
of  such  a  supposed  series  of  facts  as  constituting,  in 
part,  the  elements  of  the  spiritual  life,  as  this  learned 
and  able  author  does.  I  refer  to  them  as  giving  us 
hints  which  we  may  use,  and  add  to  at  our  pleasure, 
in  our  endeavors  to  make  that  life  real,  and  so  an 
object  of  stimulating  hope  and  rational  expectation. 
To  that  end  we  need  two  things-that  the  world  which 
is  to  be  our  final  home  shall  be  something  higher  than 
this,  and  at  the  same  time  shall  not  be  wholly  unlike 
this.  While  thus  satisfying  our  most  ardent  anticipa- 
tions, it  will  wear  also  aspects  of  familiarity  that  will 
make  it  a  liome  to  us.  It  will  promise  us  society, 
scenes,  occupations,  and  even  service,  like  those  to 
which   we  had  been   trained   while    fitting   for   that 


280  THE  PAROUSIA. 

world,  only  transfigured  in  glory  and  joyousness  as 
becomes  the  dwelling  place  of  the  Lord. 

"For  doubt  not  that  in  other  worlds  above, 
There  must  be  other  offices  of  love ; 
That  other  tasks  and  ministries  there  are 
Since  it  is  promised  that  His  servants  there, 
Shall  serve  Him  still." — Trench. 


PART  IV 


CHRIST    AS    JUDGE 


In  his  Parousia,  Christ  was  to  exercise  the  functions 
of  a  JUDGE.  ''  It  is  he  which  was  ordained  of  God  to 
be  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead."  Acts  10:  42. 
"  The  Father  judge th  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honor  the 
Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father."  John  5  :  22,  23. 
This,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  prerogatives  pertaining  to 
him  as  King.  That  sovereign  authority  which  gives 
law  to  his  moral  universe,  guards  also  its  honor  and 
applies  its  sanctions.  We  have  seen  (p.  19)  that  in 
the  Old  Testament  usage  the  two  words  signifying  to 
reign  and  to  judge  are  nearly  synonymous,  and  often 
used  interchangeably.  But  it  is  more  in  accordance 
with  modern  usage  to  conceive  of  the  two  as  distinct, 
understanding  by  the  latter  the  execution  of  law,  and 
in  general,  the  maintainance  of  the  principles  of  jus- 
tice and  righteousness  among  the  subjects  of  his  king- 
dom". 


282  THE  PAROUSIA. 

SECTION  I. 
THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT. 

The  form  under  which  this  part  of  our  Lord's 
administration  is  presented  to  us,  like  most  other  mat- 
ters in  eschatology,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. Says  the  learned  Joseph  Mede,  "  The  mother- 
text  of  Scripture  whence  the  church  of  the  Jews 
grounded  the  name  and  expectation  of  the  G-reat  Bay 
of  Judgment^  with  the  circumstances  thereto  belong- 
ing, and  where  unto  almost  all  the  descriptions  and 
expressions  thereof  in  the  New  Testament  have  refer- 
ence, is  that  vision  in  the  seventh  of  Daniel,  of  a  ses- 
sion of  judgment  when  the  fourth  beast  came  to  be 
destroyed  ;  where  this  great  assizes  is  represented  after 
the  manner  of  the  great  Synedrion^  or  Consistory  of 
Israel,  wherein  the  "  Pater  Judicii "  had  his  "  Assess- 
ores"  sitting  upon  seats  placed  semi-circle-wise  before 
him,  from  his  right  hand  to  his  left.  '  I  beheld,'  says 
Daniel,  (verse  9,)  Hill  the  thrones  or  seats  were  pitched 
down '  (viz.  for  the  senators  to  sit  upon ;  not  '  thrown 
down'  as  we  of  late  have  it)  'and  the  Ancient  of 
Days  (Pater  Consistorii)  did  sit,'  etc.,  '  and  I  beheld 
till  the  Judgment  was  set'  (i.  e.  the  whole  Sanhedrim) 
^  and  the  books  were  opened.'  Here  we  see  both  the 
form  of  the  judgment  delineated,  and  the  name  of 
judgment  expressed,  which  is  afterwards  yet  twice 
more  repeated,  Ver.  21,  22,  2Q.  From  this  descrip- 
tion it  came  that  the  Jews  gave  it  the  name  of  Yom 
Din^  and  Yom  Dina  rahba.,  the  '  Day  of  Judgment,' 
and  the  '  Day  of  the  Great  Judgment ' ;  whence,  in  the 


THE  COSTUME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  283 

epistle  of  St.  Jude,  (ver.  6),  it  is  called  xfnac;;  fitydhi^ 
■fjfxipar.,  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  From  the 
same  fountain  are  derived  those  expressions  in  the 
Gospel,  where  this  '  day '  is  intimated  or  described ; 
'  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven.' 
'  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father 
with  his  holy  angels,'  forasmuch  as  it  is  said  here 
(ver.  1)  '  Thousands  and  thousands  ministered  unto 
him,'  etc.,  and  that  Daniel  saw  (ver.  13),  'One  like 
the  Son  of  man  coming  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and 
he  came  unto  the  Ancient  of  Da^^s,  and  they  brought 
him  (or  placed  him)  near  him,'  etc.  Hence  St.  Paul 
learned  that  'the  saints  shall  judge  the  world  '  because 
it  is  said  that  '  many  thrones  were  set,'  and  (ver.  22) 
by  way  of  exposition,  that  '  judgment  was  given  to  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High.' "  Quoted  in  Bush's  Anas- 
tasis^  pp.  279,  80. 

In  his  own  description  of  the  judgment  (Matt.  25  : 
31-46),  our  Lord  somewhat  modifies  the  form.  The 
Judge  is  here  the  King  sitting  in  majesty  upon  his 
throne.  A  vast  retinue  of  angels  attend  him  and  wait 
to  do  his  bidding.  His  heralds,  with  sounding  trum- 
pets, summon  the  nations  of  mankind  into  his  pres- 
ence. Their  deeds  are  tried  by  the  fundamental  law 
of  the  kingdom, — the  law  of  love, — of  which  the  King 
himself  in  the  days  of  his  humiliation  had  been  an 
exemplar.  Those  who  have  obeyed  that  law  are 
received  to  the  place  of  favor  on  his  right  hand  and 
admitted  to  the  honors  and  felicities  of  his  kingdom, 
while  those  that  have  failed  in  that  obedience  are  ban- 
ished from  his  presence  to  the  prison  prepared  for  the 
King's  enemies,  there  to  be  punished  for  ever. 


284  THE  PABOUSIA. 

Such  is  the  costume  under  which  the  grand  and 
solemn  truth  of  the  judgment  is  presented  to  us,  and 
like  that  which  invests  the  coming  of  Christ,  it  is 
specially  adapted  to  promote  the  ethical  purposes  to 
be  served  by  that  truth.  Nothing  could  be  more  awe- 
inspiring;  nothing  better  fitted  to  awake  in  every 
being  who  is  to  stand  at  that  tribunal  that  reverent 
fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  "  the  beginning  of  wisdom." 
If,  however,  we  seek  to  fit  it  into  a  system  of  doctrine 
covering  the  whole  field  of  eschatology,  and  especially 
to  adapt  it  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  Parousia  and 
kingdom,  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  go  somewhat  behind 
this  costume  and  learn,  if  we  can,  more  exactly  what 
is  signified  by  it. 

SECTION  II. 
THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT. 

Popular  apprehension  assigns  it,  like  the  second 
coming  and  the  resurrection,  to  the  distant  future. 
Not  that  this  fact  is  any  where  expressly  asserted  in 
the  Scriptures.  It  seems  to  be  an  inference  drawn 
from  the  figure  employed  of  a  judicial  session,  after 
the  manner  of  the  great  Sanhedrim,  or  of  an  oriental 
court  where  a  monarch  in  the  presence  of  his  grandees 
dispenses  his  favors  and  his  frowns  towards  his  subjects. 
As  the  judgment  is  to  extend  to  the  entire  family  of 
man,  so  the  whole  are  conceived  of  as  standing  together 
before  the  Judge,  which  implies,  of  course,  that  it  must 
be  after  all  have  lived.  The  same  impression  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  phrases,  the  "  end  of  the  world  " 
and  "  the  last  day."     So  that  really  a  mere  incident  in 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  285 

the  costume,  or  form  under  which  the  majestic  truth 
has  been  presented  to  our  conceptions,  has  been  taken 
as  a  literal  representation  of  fact.  The  Judgment  as 
the  grand  event  which  is  to  adjust  for  every  individual 
the  results  of  life, — the  retribution  for  all  its  guilt,  the 
reward  for  all  its  virtue,  the  source  of  all  hope  and 
comfort  under  its  toils  and  trials,  and  of  all  admoni- 
tion against  its  weakness  and  wrong-doing,  is  shorn  of 
its  power  as  an  impending  reality  and  made  little  more 
than  a  name.  "  Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work 
is  not  executed  speedily^  therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons 
of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."  Eccl.  8  :  11. 
There  are,  however,  very  grave  difficulties  of  a  pos- 
itive kind  attending  the  theory  which  places  the  gen- 
eral judgment  far  away,  at  the  so-called  end  of  the 
world.  For  by  that  supposition,  large  numbers  of 
mankind  are  not  judged  until  long  after  probation  has 
closed  and  after  they  have  been  for  ages  in  heaven  or 
hell.  Take  the  apostle  Paul,  who  had  so  longed  to 
depart  and  be  with  Christ.  We  cannot  doubt  that  his 
holy  longing  was  gratified  by  the  cruel  edict  of  Nero 
full  eighteen  centuries  ago.  All  this  time,  Paul  has 
been  with  his  Lord,  enjoying  the  blessed  resurrection 
of  the  martyrs,  and  ascending  from  grade  to  grade  in 
the  endless  progression  of  glorj^  and  felicity.  Are  we, 
then,  to  believe  that  after  so  long  a  period, — nay,  as 
much  longer  as  from  now  to  the  end  of  the  world, — 
he  is  to  be  recalled  from  his  martyr's  throne  and  crown, 
to  come  and  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  Judas  who 
equally  long  ago  went  "  to  hi*  own  phice,"  and  with 
those  who  will  have  died  but  yesterday,  before  the 


286  THE  PABOUSIA. 

judgment  seat,  to  give  account  of  and  to  receive  for 
tlie  deeds  done  in  the  body  ?  Surely  not.  All  our 
ideas  of  fitness  revolt  from  such  an  incongruity.  The 
eternal  blessedness  of  those  who  having  died  in  the 
Lord  rest  from  their  labors  is  not  to  be  broken  in 
upon  afterwards  by  such  a  proceeding.  Whatever 
theory  of  the  judgment  involves  such  a  conclusion  must 
be  wrong. 

So  with  its  assumed  simultaneousness, — where  but 
in  the  mere  costume  of  the  prediction  is  it  to  be  found  ? 
Human  life  and  probation  are  not  simultaneous ;  if  the 
judgment  is  to  be,  a  portion  of  men  must  be  judged 
before  they  live,  or  another  portion  long  after, — which 
involves  the  inconsistency  just  noticed. 

Let  us  see  if  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  Scriptures 
will  not  discover  a  more  reasonable  view  than  is  invol- 
ved in  either  of  those  suppositions. 

1.  The  office  of  Christ  as  Judge  is  an  essential 
part  of  his  office  as  King,  and  cannot  be  separated 
from  it.  If  he  now  reigns  over  mankind  as  their  moral 
ruler,  he  must  in  that  very  fact  be  taking  cognizance 
of  their  moral  conduct  as  obedient  or  disobedient  sub- 
jects. He  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  approve  the 
former  and  disapprove  the  latter.  He  may,  in  order 
to  allow  time  for  a  probation,  suspend  for  a  while  the 
administration  of  the  proper  rewards  of  their  conduct, 
but  even  this  is  a  judicial  act,  performed  by  a  present 
judicial  authority  in  present  exercise.  The  details  of 
the  judgment, — the  time,  place,  and  manner  of  it, — are 
within  his  discretion  and  ordered  by  his  supreme  wis- 
dom, but  the  fact  of  it  is  one  already  existing,  because 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  287 

he  has  already  entered  upon  his  supreme  office  as 
King.  This  must  have  been  the  meaning  of  his 
emphatic  assurance  to  his  disciples  that  before  some 
of  them  standing  by  him  tasted  death  they  should  see 
him  coming  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels, 
and  then  he  would  reward  every  man  according  to  his 
works  (Matt.  16  :  27,  28),  i.  e.  would  begin  an  admin- 
istration of  reward,  as  each  individual  should  finish  his 
probation  and  depart  thence  to  appear  before  his  throne. 

2.  The  nature  of  moral  conduct  and  of  man  as  a 
moral  being  is  such  as  to  imply  a  virtual  judgment, 
self  registered  in  every  act  performed  by  him,  which 
judgment  is  simply  declared  and  confirmed  at  the  bar 
of  God.  He  who  sins,  in  so  doing  places  himself  under 
condemnation.  Whatever  is  fearful  in  being  in  that 
relation  toward  God  and  his  law  is  already  incurred, 
save  only  that  for  a  time,  while  here  in  the  flesh,  he  is 
in  a  world  where  he  may  repent  and  find  pardon.  This 
is  what  Christ  himself  says,  "  He  that  believeth  not 
has  been  judged  already  " — qd-rj  xixpirac.    John  3  :  18. 

Already,  too,  has  this  judgment  been  pronounced 
upon  him.  His  conscience  is  the  representative  of 
God,  and  in  his  name  speaks  instantaneously  of  his 
guilt  and  punishment.  And  with  what  appalling  dis- 
tinctness and  power  this  is  sometimes  done  we  all  know, 
— how  it  blanches  the  cheek,  and  paralyses  the  limbs, 
and  conjures  up  nameless  shapes  of  terror  to  haunt  the 
soul  and  fill  it  with  "  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
fiery  indignation  that  shall  devour  the  adversaries." 
Thus  all  the  elements  that  can  enter  into  the  final  sen- 
tence exist  already.    They  may  be  intensified  by  future 


288  THE  PABOUSIA. 

sin,  and  they  may, — thank  God, — be  blotted  out  by 
repentance  and  the  cleansing  blood  of  Christ,  but  these 
do  not  alter  the  fact  that  the  present  character  itself 
determines  the  present  state.  It  needs  no  formal  trial, 
as  in  human  courts,  to  ascertain  justice.  Christ's  judg- 
ment seat,  the  accuser,  the  evidence,  the  law,  and  the 
verdict  are  all  in  man's  own  heart. 

3.  It  is  implied  in  a  state  of  probation  that  the 
results  of  it  shall  be  entered  on  at  the  close  of  that 
period.  In  the  present  life  man  is  in  the  forming  stage 
of  his  being.  Law  in  its  strict  requirements  is  made 
subservient  to  Grace.  Life  and  death,  heaven  and 
hell,  are  held  out  to  him  for  his  choice,  while  instruc- 
tion and  entreaty  and  the  discipline  of  Providence  and, 
above  all,  the  ministry  of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  given 
that  he  may  be  won  to  the  love  of  God.  Now  all  this 
implies  that  when  the  end  of  such  a  state  is  reached, 
its  results  are  expected  at  once  to  follow.  Both  reason 
and  Scripture  are  silent  as  to  any  second  probation 
beyond  this  life.  Why  then  should  there  be  any  delay 
in  entering  upon  the  due  rewards  of  probation  ?  Why 
should  the  good  man  who  has  toiled  and  suffered  for 
Christ's  sake, — who  has  finished  his  course  and  kept 
the  faith, — be  made  to  wait  for  the  crown  of  righteous- 
ness laid  up  for  him  ?  Why  should  the  sinner  who 
has  exhausted  hope  and  become  ready  for  "  his  own 
place,"  be  kept  from  going  to  it  ?  What  end  of  justice, 
— what  requirement  of  government,  calls  for  delay  for 
thousands  of  years  before  the  end  for  which  every  thing 
else  was  but  preparation  should  be  reached  ? 

4.  The  current  language  of  our  Saviour  and  the 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  289 

apostles  in  relation  to  this  subject  seems  to  teach  that 
the  judgment  period,  or  ''  day  "  as  the  Jews  termed  it, 
was  then  about  to  begin.  Take,  first,  the  great  judg- 
ment scene  described  in  Matt.  25:  31-46.  "  When 
the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory  and  all  the  holy 
angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of 
his  glory,"  etc.  But  in  the  previous  part  of  this  dis- 
course it  is  repeatedly  and  explicitly  affirmed  that  that 
coming  should  be  in  that  generation ;  and  the  words 
"  when  "  and  "  then  "  link  the  judgment  with  it  in 
most  express  terms.  I  can  make  no  meaning  of  this 
language  if  it  does  not  teach  that  the  tribunal  at 
which  all  nations  should  be  gathered  was  to  be  estab- 
lished within  the  period  mentioned.  So  with  the 
earlier  declarations  just  quoted.  "  The  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels, 
and  then  shall  he  reward, — i.  e.  begin  to  reward — every 
man  according  to  his  works. — There  be  some  standing 
here  who  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom."  The  same  idea  runs 
through  all  the  writings  of  the  apostles.  Of  the 
numerous  passages  heretofore  cited  to  show  that  they 
regarded  the  Parousia  as  near,  not  a  few  mention  the 
judgment  particularly  as  then  to  be  initiated.  "  He 
hath  appointed  a  day  in  the  which  he  will — (Greek,  is 
about  to)  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  that 
man  whom  he  hath  ordained."  It  is  not  the  simple 
future  tense  of  the  verb  that  is  here  used,  but  a  phrase 
made  with  the  auxiliary  verb  fjtiUoj^  signifying  "  to  he 
about  to  do  or  suffer  any  thing,  to  be  on  the  point  of^'* 
— rRobinson).     It  implies  that  the  event   to  which 


290  THE  PAROUSIA. 

reference  was  made  was  very  near.  The  same  word 
is  employed  in  2  Tim.  4:1.  "I  charge  thee  before 
God  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  shall — is  about 
to — ^judge  the  quick  and  the  dead  at  his  appearing  and 
his  kingdom."  1  Peter  4:5.  ••'  VV' ho  shall  give  account 
to  him  that  is  ready  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead." 
This  phrase  is  stronger  than  the  preceding ;  it  denotes 
that  all  things  are  prepared  and  waiting  for  the  event. 
Compare  Acts  21 :  13  ;  2  Cor.  10  :  6  ;  12  :  14  ;  1  Peter 
4:17.  "  For  the  time  is  come  that  judgment  must 
begin  at  the  house  of  God," — literally,  "  It  is  the  time 
of  the  beginning  of  the  judgment,"  a  declaration  which 
Alford  expressly  acknowledges  as  referring  to  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  which  was  then  near  at  hand. 
And  in  all  those  passages  which  speak  of  Christ's 
coming  as  a  ground  of  joy  or  hope  or  fear,  there  is  an 
implied  recognition  of  it  as  the  time  when  he  will 
reward  his  faithful  friends  and  punish  his  and  their 
enemies, — in  other  words  as  the  time  of  the  judgment. 
The  servants  who  had  received  the  talents  were  to 
watch  because  they  knew  not  at  what  hour  their  lord 
would  come  to  call  them  to  account  for  their  trust. 
"  Judge  nothing  before  the  tim.e,"  said  Paul,  referring 
to  the  estimates  in  which  the  Corinthians  were  hold- 
ing their  different  teachers,  "  until  the  Lord  come  who 
both  will  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness, 
and  will  make  manifest  the  counsels  of  the  hearts  ;  and 
then  shall  every  man  have  praise  of  God. — Henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  sliall  give  me  in  that 
day,  and  not  to  me  only  but  also  to  all  them  that  love 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  291 

his  appearing.— Be  patient,  brethren,  unto  the  Parousia 
of  the  Lord  ;  stablish  your  hearts  for  the  Parousia  of 
the  Lord  draweth  nigh. — Grudge  not  one  against 
another  lest  ye  be  judged — xtn&r^re  ;— behold  the  Judge 
standeth  before  the  door. — Behold  I  come  quickly  and 
my  reward  is  with  me  to  give  every  man  as  his  work 
shall  be."     Rev.  22:  12. 

Instead,  then,  of  mere  inferences  drawn  from  the 
figures  under  which  it  is  described  or  from  the  mis- 
understood import  of  the  Jewish  phrase  of  "  the  last 
day,"  I  adduce  these  numerous  express  statements  that 
the  Judgment,  so  called,  or  that  period  in  which  Christ 
was  to  possess  and  execute  the  office  of  a  Judge  over 
mankind,  and  administer  the  appropriate  rewards  for 
their  conduct,  disciplinary  in  the  present  life  and  penal 
in  the  life  to  come,  was  to  hegin^  at  least,  with  the  begin- 
ning of  his  kingdom  in  the  generation  then  existing. 
And  to  this  have  conformed  the  facts  of  history.  It 
was  but  a  brief  space  before  the  first  Christians  had 
evidence  that  their  ascended  Lord  was  a  judge  as  well 
as  a  king.  Even  among  their  own  number,  two  who 
had  seemed  to  be  disciples  and  were  perhaps  receiving 
special  credit  for  their  zeal,  were  unmasked  by  a  more 
than  human  discernment  and  smitten  in  sudden  death 
for  their  hypocrisy.  It  was  the  beginning  of  that  win- 
nowing process  which  the  Baptist  had  said  should 
niark  the  dispensation  of  the  mightier  One  who  should 
come  after  him.  By  a  similar  infliction,  the  Cyprian 
sorcerer,  Elymas,  was  taught  his  temerity  in  resisting 
the  preaching  of  Christ's  word  bj^  his  apostle.  Mean- 
while, during  that  long  period  of  forty  years  from  the 


292  THE  PABOUSIA. 

ascension,  the  tempest  of  divine  justice  was  gathering 
over  the  guilty  city  and  nation  once  called  the  Lord's, 
which  when  at  last  it  was  executed  struck  the  nations 
with  awe,  and  has  ever  since  stood  forth  in  blazing 
light  on  the  page  of  history  as  the  great  judgment 
from  heaven  upon  the  people  who  had  crucified  their 
own  Messiah.  And  so  it  has  been  in  all  the  ages. 
Rome,  first  the  chastiser  of  persecuting  Judaism, 
becoming  herself  a  persecutor,  was  chastised  in  turn. 
Nero,  the  bloodiest  of  all  her  emperors,  died  like  a 
dog  in  a  sewer,  and  the  monsters  who  succeeded  him 
perished  mostly  by  violence  amid  the  execrations  of 
mankind ;  the  barbarous  northern  hordes  at  last  over- 
running her  teritory,  plundering  her  capitol,  and  parti- 
tioning out  her  empire  as  lawful  plunder.  A  priest 
who  usurped  temporal  authority  and,  as  vice-gerent  of 
the  Almighty,  claimed  the  right  to  make  and  unmake 
kings  at  his  pleasure,  and  who  in  the  pride  of  his 
power  shed  the  blood  of  the  saints  not  less  abundantly 
than  his  pagan  predecessors,  is  in  turn  thrust  from  his 
throne  and  made  to  drink  the  cup  of  humiliation  which 
he  had  so  often  commended  to  others'  lips.  A  nation 
whose  capitol  witnessed  a  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  and 
whose  supreme  assembly  sought  by  a  decree  to  legislate 
God  out  of  existence  and  voted  death  an  eternal 
sleep,  is  made  to  feel  the  horrors  of  a  revolution  at 
whose  recital  the  cheek  turns  pale.  A  great  Republic 
which  boasted  of  her  Christianity  while  holding  four 
millions  of  souls  in  iron  bondage,  is  arrested  in  her 
guilty  boasting,  and  taught  on  a  thousand  bloody 
battle  fields  that  the  Christ   whom  she  professed  to 


THE  TIME  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.]  293 

worship  was  He  whose  office  it  was  to  break  every  yoke 
and  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  Do  we  need  other  tes- 
timony than  the  record  of  history  itself  to  prove  that 
there  is  a  King  enthroned  over  men, — ruling  the 
nations  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  dashing  in  pieces  like 
a  potter's  vessel  ?  Says  Van  Oosterzee(vol.  II,  p.  801), 
"  That  the  history  of  the  world  is  a  continued  judgment 
of  the  world,  is  acknowledged  by  all  who  attentively 
and  believingly  observe  it." 

Thus  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  Christ  has  been 
the  Judge  of  the  living.  At  the  same  time  he  has 
also  been  the  Judge  of  the  dead.  In  the  history  of 
individual  souls,  the  present  life  is  a  season  of  proba- 
tion, a  dispensation  of  mercy  and  grace  from  his 
throne.  But  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die, 
and  after  this  the  judgment.  In  the  invisible  world, 
the  judgment  seat  is  ever  set,  and  as  the  multitudes 
of  men  pass  out  of  time  they  find  themselves  before 
that  tribunal.  They  do  not  wait  for  ages  before  they 
are  called  to  their  account.  Forthwith,  as  the  scenes 
of  eternity  open  on  their  view,  they  see  the  throne, 
the  Judge,  and  the  books ;  forthwith  do  they  hear  the 
sentence,  ''Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,"  or  "De- 
part ye  cursed."  In  other  words,  whatever  under 
these  figures  is  signified  of  judgment  and  eternal 
award  is  realized  without  delay.  These  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal.  Then  begins  the  career  of  retribution  which 
is  to  have  no  end.  No  subsequent  judgment  in  some 
far  distant  cycle  of  duration  is  to  break  in  upon  it,  to 
repeat  a  transaction  which  has  already  been  fully  per- 


294  THE  PABOUSIA. 

formed.  The  door  of  the  prison  house  once  closed 
will  never  be  opened  again ;  the  children  once  safe  in 
the  many  mansions  of  their  Father's  house  will  go  no 
more  out  forever. 

And  this,  we  believe,  is  the  "  Day  of  Judgment," — 
well  designated  as  the  Day  of  the  Lc)rd,  and  the  Great 
Day.  It  is  the  day  which  began  when  Christ  took  his 
seat  on  his  throne,  and  will  last  as  long  as  his  throne 
endures ;  that  is,  for  ever.  Is  it  objected  that  the 
word  "day"  implies  a  more  limited  period,  something 
analogous  to  an  ordinary  solar  day  ?  But  this  is  the 
very  word  chosen  by  inspiration  to  represent  the  great 
geologic  periods  of  the  creation.  Says  Prof.  J.  J. 
Owen,  "  The  phrases  'end  of  the  world,'  'day  of  judg- 
ment,' 'day  of  the  Lord,'  and  the  like,  are  not  to  be 
compressed  to  an  inconsiderable  period  of  time  like 
our  day  of  twenty-four  hours,  bvit  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  must  be  referred  to  an  indefMitely  prolonged 
period,  the  length  of  ivhich  is  knotvn  only  to  God.  It 
in  called  the  day  of  the  Lord  because  it  refers  to  a 
period  definitely  fixed  in  the  counsels  of  eternity,  and 
not  because  it  is  embraced  in  the  limits  of  a  common 
day.  Thus  in  Gen.  2 :  4,  the  work  of  creation  is  re- 
ferred to  as  performed  in  a  single  day,  whereas  we  are 
told  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  God  was  employed 
six  days  in  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
These  days  were  probably  great  time  periods,  and  yet 
we  are  not  misunderstood,  nor  do  we  use  language  im- 
properly when  we  speak  of  the  day  of  creation.  In 
like  manner  the  process  of  the  resurrection  and  final 
judgment  may  embrace  long  extended  periods  of  time 


A  WA RDS  OF  THE  JUDGMENT.  295 

and  yet  be  properly  referred  to  as  the  day  of  the  Lord, 
the  day  of  judgment,  or  still  more  concisely,  the  hour 
'when  all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  man  and  come  forth."  Bib.  Sac,  Vol.  XXI, 
p.  369.  So  likewise.  Prof.  Van  Oosterzee  says,  "It  is 
self-evident  that  the  imagery  in  which  the  last  judg- 
ment is  presented  in  holy  Scripture  admits  of  no  literal 
explanation,  and  on  that  account  all  opposition  to  the 
reality  of  the  fact  b}^  reason  of  the  plastic  form  of  its 
description  arises,  if  not  from  malevolence,  at  least 
from  misconception.  Even  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  was 
readily  granted — 'totum  illud  judicium,  et  quoad  dis- 
cussionem  et  quoad  sententiam,  non  vocaliter  sed 
mentaliter  perficietur.' — Th.  Aquinas. ^^  * 

SECTION   III. 
AWARDS   OF   THE   JUDGMENT. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  blessed  resurrection 
state  of  the  righteous,  a  state  which  it  seems  superflu- 
ous to  say  will  be  eternal.  Lest  any  untrue  inference 
should  be  derived  from  an  omission  of  that  subject,  I 
will  venture  a  very  few  words  here  as  to  the  punish- 
ment of  the  wicked. 

Upon  this  awful  subject  the  Scriptures  give  us  but 
little  specific  information,  and  it  were  presumptuous 
to  be  wise  above  what  is  written.  The  terms  which 
are  used  to  describe  it  are  probably  figurative,  designed 
to  convey  an  idea  of  the  fact  and  of  its  severity,  rather 

■That  entire  judgment,  both  as  respects  the  investigation 
and  the  sentence,  will  be  performed  not  in  audible  words  but 
in  mental  processes. 


296  THE  PAROUSIA. 

than  its  precise  nature.  The  leading  idea  of  it  is  ex- 
clusion from  the  "place"  prepared  by  Christ  in  his 
Father's  house  for  his  people,  and  banishment  into 
the  "outer  darkness,  where  are  weeping  and  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Of  the  locality,  and  the  phy- 
sical conditions  of  that  abode  we  can  af&rm  nothing. 
Of  the  mental  sufferings  attending  such  a  state ;  of 
the  pangs  of  conscious  guilt,  rejection  from  God's 
favor,  the  extinction  of  hope,  the  torture  of  ever  un- 
satisfied desire,  and  the  like,  we  may  form  some  con- 
ceptions, but  have  no  measures  by  which  to  estimate 
their  amount.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  soul  will 
be  lost.  Further  than  this  it  would  seem  best  to  leave 
the  subject  beneath  the  awful  veil  of  darkness  under 
which  it  is  enshrouded  in  God's  word. 

On  one  point,  however,  I  cannot  deem  the  teachings 
of  the  Scriptures  to  be  doubtful,  and  that  is  as  to  the 
perpetuity  of  future  punishment.  Whatever  possible 
meanings  the  phrases  may  sometimes  have  which  de- 
scribe it,  I  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that  they  are 
designed  to  teach  us  that  in  this  connection  they  mean 
endless  duration.  If  the  Scriptures  were  professedly 
to  set  about  affirming  that  doctrine,  I  know  not  how 
they  could  do  it  more  explicitly  than  they  have  done. 
It  is  not  alone  in  single  terms  or  in  direct  assertions ; 
it  is  implied  in  a  great  many  phrases  and  incidental 
utterances  which  are  often  even  more  convincing,  if 
possible,  than  the  more  positive  forms  of  speech.  Let 
it  be  remembered  that  our  Lord  himself  is  our  princi- 
pal instructor  on  this  subject,  and  that  the  most  fear- 
ful imagery  and  the  most  appalling  language  were 
spoken  by  his  own  gracious  lips. 


SUMMABY.  297 

I  may  say  one  thing  more.  The  decisions  of  the 
judgment  are  represented  as  final.  I  can  find  no  hint 
of  another  probation  after  this  present  life, — a  second 
probation  for  those  who  may  be  supposed  to  have  had 
no  "fair  chance"  in  this.  If  any  such  there  have  been 
or  may  be  among  the  inhabitants  of  time,  they  will 
most  surely  be  fairly  dealt  with  by  a  merciful  God. 
With  him  we  may  safely  leave  them  without  attempt- 
ing to  find  for  them  a  grace  that  is  nowhere  promised, 
or  a  new  probation  of  which  Christ  the  Saviour  has 
never  told  us. 


Our  doctrine,  then,  may  be  concisely  stated, — The 
Parousia  of  Christ  is    his  abiding  presence 

AMONG  MEN    IN    THE    EXERCISE    OF  HIS    MeSSIANIC 

OFFICES  OF  King,  Life-giver,  and  Judge.  Those 
offices  are  three  in  their  aspect  only,  as  relating  to  dif- 
ferent departments  of  his  administration ;  in  reality, 
they  are  one,  constituting  that  "glory"  which  he  re- 
ceived of  the  Father  in  reward  for  his  humiliation  and 
sufferings.  The  Parousia  commenced  when,  after  his 
ascension  to  his  throne,  he  began  to  "come"  or  be 
manifested  to  men  in  the  mighty  acts  performed  by 
him.  His  three-fold  offices  are  executed  simultan- 
eously, running  parallel  with  each  other  through  all 
time.  Their  consummation  will  be  the  complete  re- 
storation of  this  world  to  holiness  and  happiness. 
Their  duration  will  be  forever. 
14 


298  THE  PAB0U8IA. 

Of  the  doctrine  thus  presented,  I  desire  to  remark 
in  review : 

1.  That  it  is  to  be  regarded  neither  as  a  prceterist 
nor  a,  futurist  view  ;  rather  does  it  include  both.  If  it 
be  affirmed  that  the  Parousia  began  at  the  ascension, 
it  is  not  meant  that  it  is  not  also  a  fact  of  all  the  com- 
ing ages.  If  it  be  spoken  of  as  the  object  of  future 
expectation,  it  is  not  meant  that  it  has  not  also  begun 
to  be  enjoyed  already.  I  ask  especially  that  I  may 
not  be  represented  as  saying  that  the  resurrection  is 
"past  already,"  or  that  the  day  of  judgment  occurred 
at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  The  Parousia,  in- 
cluding under  it  Christ's  reign  as  King,  Life-giver, 
and  Judge,  is  not  an  event,  but  a  dispensation.  If  it 
began  at  the  ascension,  it  is  to  reach  also  into  the  far 
distant  future,  is  to  be,  in  fact,  everlasting.  Viewed, 
indeed,  as  a  whole,  it  may  with  great  propriety  be 
spoken  of  as  still  future,  for  these  two  thousand  years 
since  the  ascension,  in  comparison  with  the  ages  yet  to 
come,  are  but  as  the  first  ray  of  the  morning  to  the 
long,  bright  summer  day.  Nevertheless  the  morning 
has  dawned^  the  Day-Star  has  risen,  though  the  day 
in  its  consummate  glory  is  still  before  us.  Or  to  re- 
peat a  figure  already  used, — we  have  set  forth  upon 
the  illimitable  ocean  of  Christ's  reign ;  let  it  not  be 
said  that  because  we  are  as  yet  scarcely  out  of  the 
harbor,  we  have  not  therefore  left  the  wharf. 

2.  It  is  a  view  which  harmonizes,  as  none  other  do 
with  which  we  are  acquainted,  all  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures.  Why  is  it  that  just  now,  as  in  fact  has 
been  true  more  or  less  during  the  whole  Christian 


SUMMARY.  299 

period,  the  Christian  church  is  so  divided  in  opinion 
on  this  subject  ?  The  answer  is,  because  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves  seem  to  teach  two  or  more  contradic- 
tory things  about  it.  They  affirm  the  nearness  of 
the  Parousia,  and  bid  men  to  live  expecting  and 
watching  for  it,  and  yet  say  it  was  to  be  at  the  end 
of  the  world,  and  to  be  accompanied  by  the  resur- 
rection and  general  judgment.  Now  the  two  parties 
choose  each  their  own  class  of  teachings,  and  fail  to 
bring  into  harmonious  relations  with  it  the  others. 
Adventtiss  choose  the  nearness,  which  is  (or  was)  a 
truth,  and  then  compel  themselves  to  look  for  the 
"end"  and  all  the  dread  phenomena  of  the  winding  up 
of  human  affairs  as  immediately  impending  events. 
Futurists,  shrinking  from  the  latter  inference,  deni/  the 
nearness,  and  defer  the  Parousia  to  the  distant  future. 
So  with  respect  to  the  millennium.  The  Pre-millena- 
rians  are  most  surely  right  in  holding  that  Christ  was  to 
come  to  set  up  a  kingdom  on  earth,  and  reign  over  it  as 
the  Messiah,  but  are  just  as  surely  wrong  in  saying 
that  that  kingdom  has  not  yet  been  set  up  and  there- 
fore the  coming  is  future.  Post-millenarians  are  cer- 
tainly right  in  holding  that  the  kingdom  was  estab- 
lished on  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  is  to  grow  till  it 
reaches  its  grand  millennial  glory,  but  are  just  as 
clearly  wrong  in  holding  that  Christ  was  not  to  come 
till  that  consummation  had  been  reached,  and  then 
not  to  reign  over  it,  but  to  judge  the  world  and  imme- 
diately surrender  the  kingdom  to  the  Father.  Now  the 
Scriptures  cannot,  when  rightly  interpreted,  teach  both 
these  opposites  ;  they  cannot  so  contradict  themselves. 


300  THE  PABOUSIA. 

There  must  be  some  way  of  harmonizing  them,  and  this 
is  what  I  have  attempted  to  find.  Take  the  Pre-millen- 
arian  doctrine  (which  seems  to  me  least  distant  from 
the  truth)  and  enlarge  its  conceptions  of  the  Parousia 
both  ways,  carrying  it  back  to  the  pentecost  and 
onward  into  the  future  indefinitely ;  and  then  make 
the  resurrection  and  judgment  not  single  events  but 
coincident  parts  of  one  grand  dispensation  under  the 
reign  of  Christ  the  King,  and  the  seeming  contradic- 
tions are  nearly  all  reconciled.  Or  take  the  Post-mil- 
lenarian  doctrine,  and  let  it  accept  the  scenes  at  the 
day  of  pentecost,  which  it  acknowledges  to  have  been 
a  coming  of  Christ,  as  the  beginning  of  the  Parousia, 
then  let  it  similarly  associate  with  it  the  resurrection 
and  judgment  as  parts  of  the  dispensation,  and  discard 
the  unwarranted  idea  of  Christ's  giving  up  his  throne, 
and  we  come  again  nearly  to  the  same  result.  The 
past,  present,  and  future  meet  in  one  grand  whole. 
All  the  varied  passages  of  Scripture  drop  into  place  in 
entire  harmony.  We  have  no  longer  need  of  invent- 
ing a  theory  of  double  sense*;  of  supposing  the  inspired 
writers  mistaken;  that  the  primitive  church  was 
required  to  expect  and  to  watch  for  events  then  thous- 
ands of  years  distant ;  that  these  thousands  of  years 
are  what  the  Scriptures  mean  by  "quickly,"  "at  hand,'* 
etc.  Is  not,  I  cannot  help  asking,  a  theory  which 
comes  into  the  midst  of  these  conflicting  opinions  and 
parties,  and  with  a  wider  range  than  either  compre- 
hends them  both,  conserving  what  is  true  and  correct- 
ing what  by  reason  chiefly  of  its  narrowness  is  erron- 
eous, reducing  all  to  a  substantial  harmony, — is  it  not 


SUMMARY.  301 

self-evidently  to  be  accepted  as  in  the  main  the  true 
one? 

3.  And  this  result,  let  it  be  observed,  is  obtained 
not  by  any  sacrifice  of  the  great  truths  which  enter 
into  the  substance  of  the  doctrine,  but  only  by  modifi- 
cations of  the  accessories  of  time,  order,  manner  and 
costume.  The  facts  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ, 
of  his  reign  as  King,  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  the  universal  judgment,  are  fundamental  in  the 
gospel  system  ;  they  constitute  those  "  powers  of  the 
world  to  come  "  which  enforce  its  demands  upon  every 
human  heart.  I  would  not  yield  for  a  moment  to  any 
teaching  which  rejected  or  weakened  their  solemn 
import.  In  my  judgment,  the  views  now  advanced  do 
neither.  It  can  not  detract  from  the  Parousia  that  it 
is  held  as  a  dispensation  rather  than  a  transient  event ; 
that  its  date  was  A.  D.  30  rather  than  A.  D.  1880,  or 
any  other  more  remote.  It  cannot  weaken  its  signifi- 
cance that  it  was  spiritual  and  invisible,  save  only  in 
the  mighty  works  attending  it,  rather  than  visible, 
amid  the  clouds,  with  the  crash  of  an  expiring  universe. 
It  does  not  detract  from  Christ's  kingly  glory  that  he 
reigns  by  his  Spirit  and  providence  over  a  kingdom  of 
redeemed  souls,  rather  than  over  a  visible  organization 
whose  capital  is  at  Jerusalem.  It  does  not  take  from 
the  majesty  of  that  kingdom  that  it  is  to  be  without 
end,  rather  than  surrendered  by  its  king  as  soon  as  he 
attains  undisputed  dominion.  It  does  not  make  the 
resurrection  any  the  less  momentous  that  it  occurs 
when  the  earthly  life  ceases,  rather  than  after  a  slum- 
ber of  ages  in  the  grave.     It  does  not  diminish  the 


302  THE  PAB0U8IA. 

solemnity  of  the  judgment  that  the  soul  stands  forth 
with  before  the  great  white  throne,  rather  than  waits 
for  that  ordeal  till  the  end  of  time.  The  facts  invol- 
ved in  all  these  things  are  unchanged.  The  joyous 
promises  they  imply  to  Christ's  people  are  undimmed. 
The  solemn  admonitions  they  afford  to  those  outside 
his  kingdom  are  not  weakened.  Life,  death,  proba- 
tion, retribution,  time,  eternity,  are  all  words  of 
unabated  meaning.  Is  it  not  worth  while,  then,  to 
consent  to  such  easy  modifications  in  non-essentials — 
the  mere  drapery  of  the  doctrine — as  shall  allow  of  a 
harmonious  adjustment  of  the  facts ;  the  bringing  of 
all  that  is  essential  into  a  symmetrical  body  of  truth 
which  may  command  the  acceptance  of  all  who  receive 
and  love  God's  word,  and  will  be  more  than  ever  before 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  ? 

4.  Nay,  I  am  not  willing  to  rest  the  matter  there ; 
I  must  insist  that  these  views  give  a  greatly  increased 
meaning  and  force  to  all  the  truths  involved  in  them. 
They  make  the  Parousia  not  a  matter  of  expectation 
only  but  a  present  fact.  Christ  has  come.  He  is 
already  on  his  throne.  He  is  ruling  men  now.  He  is 
separating  them, — by  his  Word  and  Spirit  and  Provi- 
dence— as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the 
goats;  he  is  giving  life  to  dead  souls  by  regenera- 
tion ;  and  the  blessed  resurrection  life  to  his  people 
when  the  earthly  life  is  no  more  ;  he  is  pronouncing 
the  sentence  "  Come  ye  blessed"  or  "  Depart  ye 
cursed  "  to  those  who  having  finished  probation  stand 
before  him  in  judgment.  Could  our  eyes  be  opened 
as  those  of  Elisha's  companion  were  in  the  besieged 


SUMMABY.  303 

city,  we  should  see  all  these  as  present  facts.  They 
would  not  lie  so  remote  from  us,  beyond  the  horizon  of 
the  future,  as  to  have  lost  half  their  solemn  signifi- 
cance. That  we  cannot  now  see  them, — that  we  are 
still  in  the  flesh, — does  not  alter  those  facts  or  rob 
them  of  their  tremendous  import. 

Nor,  let  us  remember,  is  that  sight  far  distant  from 
any  of  us.  A  very  few  days  more,  and  the  scene  in 
all  its  unspeakable  grandeur  will  burst  upon  our  vision. 
It  is  but  the  cessation  of  this  fluttering  breath,  the 
hushing  to  rest  of  this  throbbing  heart,  and  all  that 
we  now  reason  of  and  speculate  about  will  break  upon 
us  as  matters  of  knowledge  and  experience.  Then, 
according  to  his  prayer  and  promise,  shall  we  be  forever 
with  the  Lord ;  and  let  us  not  count  ii  a  vain  expecta- 
tion, too,  that  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is. 


APPENDIX 


A  few  typographical  errors  in  the  preceding  pages  escaped 
the  notice  of  the  proof  reader,  the  correction  of  which  will  be 
obvious  without  special  mention.  On  page  100,  3d  line  from 
bottom,  Matt.  23  should  be  Matt.  25. 


23. 

"  An  unprejudiced  comparison  of  the  passages  in  which 
the  seer  speaks  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord  shows  that  he 
understood  any  personal  revelation  or  energetic  self- 
affirmation  of  the  exalted  Christ  as  a  coming  of  the  Lord. 
Sometimes  it  is  preliminary  and  refers  to  individual 
churches  or  members  of  churches;  sometimes  it  is  final 
and  relates  to  all  men ;  at  one  time  it  is  a  manifestation 
mainly  of  judicial  chastisement,  and  at  another  of  gracious 
olessings.  Only  from  the  connection  can  it  be  decided 
which  of  these  meanings  is  intended  in  the  particul^* 
case.  Every  personal  energetic  interposition  of  the  Lord 
in  the  outer  or  inner  life  of  the  church  is  as  really  a  coming 
of  the  Lord  as  his  second  advent  will  be."  Gebhardt,  on 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Apocalypse,  p.  270. 

DR.  DOLLTNGEe's  VIEWS  OF  2  THESS.  2 :  1-12. 

After  my  remarks  respecting  the  "  Man  of  Sin  "  were 
written,  (pp.  65-71)  I  had  the  pleasure  of  falling  in  with 


APPENDIX.  305 

the  work  of  the  distinguished  Dr.  Von  Dollinger  entitled 
"First  Age  of  the  Church."  He  is  known  as  the  chief 
leader  in  the  recent  "  Old  Catholic  "  movement,  and  is 
probably  the  prince  of  living  ecclesiastical  historians  in 
Europe.  He  gives  the  same  views  that  I  have  done  in 
respect  to  this  personage  and  the  scope  of  the  chapter  in 
which  he  is  described ;  and  affirms  also  that  it  was  held 
for  substance  by  most  of  the  early  Fathers  of  the  church.  * 
I  quote  some  extracts. 

"  The  epistle  is  commonly  supposed  to  have  been 
written  in  A.  D.  53.  Claudius  was  then  on  the  throne. 
His  step-son  Nero,  Caligula's  nephew,  who  had  been 
brought  up  under  the  care  of  a  dancer  and  a  barber,  was 
already  married  to  the  emperor's  daughter,  adopted  into 
the  Claudian  family,  and  proclaimed  by  the  senate, 
'  Prince  of  the  youth,'  (Princeps  Juventutis.  See  Eckhel, 
Doctr.  Num.  viii.  371,  seq.,)  a  title  then  officially  desig- 
nating the  heir  to  the  throne.  It  was  well  known  that 
his  mother  Agrippina  would  only  allow  him  and  not 
Britannicus  to  succeed.  Claudius  had  already  commend- 
ed him  to  the  people  by  an  edict,  and  declared  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  senate  that  in  case  of  his  death  Nero  was  of  age 
to  reign.  Nero  took  his  uncle  Caligula  more  and  more 
for  a  model,  of  whom  Josephus  says  that  only  his  sudden 
death  delivered  the  Jews  from  extermination.  Ant.  19. 
1.  And  he  soon  surpassed  his  model.  His  reign  corres- 
ponded to  the  apostle's  expectation;  on  the  throne  he 
was  really  the  Man  of  Sin,  exalted  over  all  gods  and  all 
sanctuaries.     That  he  outdid  all  that  the  world  had  yet 

*St.  Augustine  declares;  "Ceterum,  imperium  Romanum 
et  Keronem  in  illo  loco  Pauli  intellexere  J.  Chrysostomus, 
Cyrillus,  TertuUianus,  pluresque  a/iipa<?'es,  quorum  locos  indicat 
Coquaeus."    De  Civit.  Dei,  xx.  19. 


306  THE  PABOUSIA. 

seen  in  shameless  transgression  of  decency  and  law  and 
was  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  '  lawless,'  is  noto- 
rious. Pliny  called  him  the  enemy  and  common  scourge 
of  the  human  race.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Armenian 
king  Tiridates  publicly  declared  him  before  the  Roman 
people  to  be  his  god,  whom  he  adored  as  the  Sun  himself. 
On  his  entrance  into  Rome,  on  returning  from  Greece, 
sacrifices  were  offered  to  him  all  along  the  road.  He 
counted  it  a  crime  in  Thraseas  that  he  did  not  offer  to  his 
divine  voice.  Suet.  25  ;  Dio  Cass.  1.  62.  p.  714.  He 
despised  all  gods  and  worships,  only  for  a  while  he  served 
the  Syrian  goddess ;  but  her  image  too  he  shamefully  dis- 
honored, and  he  took  vengeance  on  Apollo  and  his 
Delphian  oracle  by  depriving  him  of  his  lands  in  Cyrrha, 
killing  men  in  the  sanctuary,  choking  up  the  cavern,  and 
dragging  away  five  hundred  statues.^ 

"  Nero  personally  undertook  nothing  against  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem,  but  he  appointed  Vespasian  general  in  the 
war,  and  thus  after  his  death  introduced  that  desecration 
and  abomination  of  desolation  in  the  holy  place  which 
Paul,  following  the  intimations  of  Christ  (Matt.  24:  15), 
and  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  (ch.  8  :  11 ;  11 :  31 ;  12  :  11), 
called  a  sitting  in  the  temple.  The  apostle  did  not,  of 
course,  mean  this  literally,  but  he  meant  to  say  that  the 
heathen  power  would  dominate  even  the  temple ;  that 
even  this  or  the  holy  city  would  be  profaned  by  the  wor- 
ship of  the  emperor.^ 

^Keligionum  usquaequaque  contemptor  prseter  unius  dese 
Syrise.  Hanc  mox  ita  sprevit  ut  urina  contaminaret.  Suet.  56 ; 
Dio.  1.  63.     Pausan.  813. 

^  Origen  had  already  perceived  that  Paul's  words  about  sitting 
in  the  temple  were  simply  an  application  of  Daniel's  prophecy. 
— Contr.  Celsum  7.46— To  imagine  a  literal  fulfillment  of  Paul's 
prophecy  is  to  forget  that  he  was  not  accurately  predicting  the 


APPENDIX.  307 

"In  the  Sibylline  books,  too,  Nero  is  mentioned  as  the 
destroyer  of  the  temple.  The  Jewish  author  who  lived 
at  the  time  or  near  it  knew  well  that  Vespasian  was  the 
commander,  but  the  real  author  of  the  war  against  Jeru- 
salem was  Nero.  Christ  gave  as  the  fulfillment  of  Daniel's 
prophecy  the  appearance  of  Gentile  troops  on  the  temple- 
hill  ;  Paul's  prophecy  that  the  would-be  god  should  sit  in 
the  temple  and  be  worshiped  was  fulfilled  when  the 
Roman  eagles,  with  images  of  the  emperor,  were  planted 
in  the  'holy  place  'of  the  temple,  and  the  emperor-wor- 
ship of  heathen  Rome  was  regularly  practiced  where  the 
service  of  the  true  God  had  been  observed. 

"  Paul  had  already  given  the  Thessalonians  more  exact 
information,  orally,  about  the  event  he  is  writing  of.  He 
is  here  reminding  them  of  it,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
recalls  to  their  memory  that  he  had  also  described  to  them 
the  person  who  as  yet  stands  in  the  way  of  the  open 
appearance  of  the  Man  of  Sin.  'You  know,'  he  says, 
'  him  who  is  now  in  possession  so  that  the  Lawless  One 
will  first  appear  in  his  own  time.  But  already  the  mystery 
of  lawlessness  worketh,  or  is  already  preparing  for  its 
open  manifestation ;  it  has  to  wait  awhile,  but  as  soon  as 
the  present  '  possessor '  is  out  of  the  way  the  lawlessness 
will  be  revealed.^     Claudius  is  here  intended,  and  it  is 

future  by  virtue  of  any  special  prophetic  inspiration  of  his  own, 
but  merely  applying  to  the  instruction  of  the  Thessalonians  the 
knowledge  and  expectation  of  approaching  events  the  church 
had  derived  from  the  words  of  Christ.  All  that  is  essential  in 
his  description  is  fulfilled  in  Nero  and  the  events  connected  with 
him. 

*  JSTatec^on  is  commonly  rendered,  "  he  that  impedes  "  C'with- 
holdeth."  Eng.  Yer. ),  but  the  word  does  not  properly  mean  to 
impede,  hinder,  or  divide,  but  to  possess,  contain,  hold  rule. 
See  the  passages  collected  in  Dindorf's  Thesaurus.     In  the  New 


308  ^  THE  PAROUSIA. 

very  intelligible  why  the  apostle,  in  a  letter  which  might 
easily  fall  into  the  wrong  hands,  expresses  himself  in  so 
enigmatical  and  secret  a  manner.  The  Christians  could 
not  misunderstand  him.  And  in  fact,  Claudius  contrasts 
most  markedly  in  this  respect  with  his  predecessor  Cali- 
gula and  his  successor  Nero.  He  had  forbidden  sacrifice 
and  divine  honors  to  be  offered  to  himself  as  a  god,  and 
had  further  directed  that  the  adoration  paid  to  Caligula 
should  not  be  continued  to  him  nor  divine  homage  be 
exhibited  when  he  appeared  in  public.  But  Nero  and 
Agrippina  were  impatient  of  his  death,  and  soon  after, — 
A.  D.  54, — he  was  '  removed  out  of  the  way '  by  Locusta's 
poison,  and  the  new  emperor-god  was  enabled  to  appear. 
"  This  wicked  one  Christ  will  '  destroy  by  the  breath 
of  his  mouth  and  the  brightness  of  his  presence ' ;  i.  e.  he 
will  execute  judgment  on  this  Man  of  Sin,  as  he  will  also 
on  Jerusalem  ;  both  alike  will  be  an  effect  of  his  presence. 
#  #  *  Paul  had  a  type  of  this  wicked  one  in  Antiochus, 
of  whom  Daniel  said  that  he  should  come  to  his  end  with- 
out deliverance  (Dan.  11  :  45),  and  whose  death  is  treated 
in  Maccabees  as  a  divine  judgment  on  the  profaner  of  the 
sanctuary  of  the  true  God.  And  therefore  the  words  of 
Isaiah  which  Paul  has  here  partly  adopted  were  already 
applied  by  the  Jews  to  Messiah's  victory  over  his  enemy 
Armillus, — '  With  the  breath  of  his  lips  shall  he  slay  the 

Testament,  especially  with  Paul  who  most  often  uses  the  word, 
it  always  means  to  possess,  hold ;  no  where  to  restrain,  not  even 
in  Kom.  1 :  18,  as  the  context  shows.  Chrysostom  indeed  inter- 
prets it  to  koluon,  but  only  from  following  the  traditional  notion 
that  the  Kom  an  Empire  is  meant.  For  the  rest,  the  holder  or 
possessor  is  here  always  the  hinderer,  he  that  stands  in  the  way. 
When  the  Man  of  Sin  is  come  into  possession  [of  power]  he  will 
first  come  forward  with  his  blasphemy.  The  Vulgate  rightly 
interprets  it  "qui  tenet." 


APPENDIX.  309 

wicked.'  Dan.  11:  45;  1  Mace.  6:  13;  2  Mace.  9:7; 
Isa.  11  :  4. 

"If  Paul  connects  the  appearance  of  the  'Adversary' 
with  Satanic  agency,  that  is  all  the  more  natural,  as  he 
connects  the  more  potent  manifestations  of  heathenism 
generally,  the  heathen  rejection  or  hatred  of  the  faith, 
with  Satanic  operations.  '  The  god  of  this  world  has 
blinded  the  minds  of  unbelievers' — 'works  in  the  sons  of 
unbelief.'  2  Cor.  4:4;  Eph.  2 :  2.  The  use  of  lying 
wonders  and  signs,  which  Paul  foresees,  is  again  satanic. 
And  it  is  noteworthy  that  Pliny  tells  us  nobody  was  more 
zealously  devoted  to  magical  arts  than  Nero,  in  order 
that  he  might  be  able  to  command  the  gods,  which  he  so 
eagerly  desired  that  he  even  offered  human  sacrifices  to 
them.  (Nat.  Hist.  30.  5).  It  is  not  however  said  that 
the  'Lawless  One'  himself  would  work  these  signs,  but 
that  men  would  be  deceived  by  them  to  their  own  de- 
struction. Paul  had  before  his  eyes  Christ's  prophecy  ; 
and  the  false  prophet  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  beast  from 
the  earth,  who  by  great  wonders  seduces  men  to  worship 
the  beast  from  the  sea  (the  emperor)  is  part  of  the  same 
id^a.  Magical  and  theurgic  acts  were  then  as  insepara- 
ble from  heathenism  as  the  heresies  which  sprung  from 
heathen  elements. 

"  The  'apostasy'  which  was  to  come  first  was  the  fall- 
ing away  from  faith,  the  seductions  of  false  doctrine, 
which  Paul  elsewhere  mentions,  and  which,  after  its  en- 
trance, occupied  the  apostles.  How  solemnly  Paul  tells 
the  Ephesians  that  after  his  departure,  ravening  wolves, 
false  teachers,  will  arise,  as  well  from  without  as  from 
within  the  church,  and  lead  the  people  astray!  He  meant 
the  Gnostic  heretics  whom  he  clearly  described  afterwards 
in  his  epistles  to  Timothy,  as  apostates  whose  entrance 


310  THE  PAROUSIA. 

in  the  latter  times  the  spirit  of  prophecy  'expressly'  fore- 
told. ITim.  4:  1.  They,  by  magical  delusions,  deceived 
the  credulous  and  gained  them  for  themselves.*  The 
falling  away  Paul  mentions  cannot  be  one  to  be  wrought 
by  the  Man  of  Sin.  Of  him  Paul  only  knew  that  he  would 
make  himself  a  god,  and  put  down  or  slight  all  other 
gods.  He  could  not  mean  that  a  great  number  of  be- 
lievers would  fall  away  simply  to  flatter  the  pride  of  this 
man-god  and  worship  him.  No  sort  of  anxiety  about  an 
apostasy  to  this  crudest,  almost  insane,  form  of  heathen- 
ism is  ever  expressed  throughout  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment, nor  any  warning  given  against  it.  Paul  speaks  of 
a  strong  power  of  delusion  working  this  result.  But  the 
apotheosis  of  a  despot  could  so  little  deceive  that,  as 
Philo  remarks,  all  except  the  Jews  took  part  in  the  divine 
adoration  of  Caligula,  but  purely  out  of  terror  and  against 
the  grain.  But  here  again,  it  is  only  the  intimations  of 
Christ  which  the  apostle  follows.  Matt.  24 :  23,  seq. 
He  had  connected  a  great  deceiving  with  the  period  of 
the  abomination  of  desolation  in  the  holy  place,  and  so 
also  did  Paul.  The  coming  of  the  Lawless  One  would 
coincide  with  the  apostasy  wrought  by  miracle-monger- 
ing,  false  teachers,  and  magical  signs.  Two  great  judg- 
ments were  to  come  together,  the  profanation  and  fall  of 
the  temple,  and  the  delusion  or  falling  away  to  Gnostic- 
ism of  many  believers.  This  last  evil  the  apostle  regards 
as  a  judgment  on  those  'who  not  having  believed  the 
truth,  take  pleasure  in  unrighteousness  ;'  wherefore  'God 
will  send  them  a  strong  delusion  that  they  may  believe 
the  lie.' "     Vol.  2,  p.  268,  et  seq. 

*  The  ancients  call  them  satanical  arts,  and  use  the  same  word 
as  Paul.  So  Justin  Martyr,  of  Simon.  Apol.  2.  So  Eusebius 
(3.36)  of  Menandcr.  John  of  Damascus  remarks  (4:  26)  that  Paul 
medins feigned  miracles. 


APPENDIX.  .      311 

QROTIUS    ON    THE    MILLENNIUM,    AND    GOG    AND    MAGOG. 

The  following  passages  from  the  Commentary  of  the 
learned  Grotius  were  discovered  after  I  had  written  the 
sections  relating  to  those  topics,  pp.  131 ;  137. 

Rev.  20  :  1. — Aliud  est  visum,  significans  tranquillita- 
tem  quae  ecclesiis  per  Constantinum  erat  primum  data, 
aucta  per  successores,  fore  quidam  longam,  non  tamen 
usque  ad  mundi  interitum. 

Verse  3.  Mille  illorum  annorum  initium  duci  debet  ab 
edicto  Constantini,  quod  est  apud  Eusebium,  in  quo  vincti 
draconis  est  mentio. 

Verse  4.  Constantini  edictum  pro  Christianismi  liber- 
tate  datum  fuit  circa  annum  Christi  311.  Mille  post 
annis  orta  est  domus  Ottomanica  quae  non  in  Persidem 
aut  oras  Roman i  imperii,  sed  in  partes  ejus  intimas  atque 
potissimas  in  Asiam  Grseciamque  invexit  Mahumetis 
religionem  Satana?  repertum. 

Verse  8.  Hie  ergo  per  Gogum  intelligenda  domus 
Ottomanica,  quae  primum  in  ea  parte  Asiae  se  ostendit.* 


^Kev.  20:1.  Another  vision  was  seen,  signifying  that  the 
tranquillity  which  was  first  bestowed  by  Constantine  and  aug- 
mented by  his  successors  would  last  a  long  time,  but  not  until 
the  destruction  of  the  world. 

3.  The  beginning  of  the  thousand  years  should  be  reckoned 
from  the  edict  of  Constantine  related  by  Eusebius,  in  which 
mention  is  made  of  the  bound  dragon. 

4.  The  edict  of  Constantine  for  the  freedom  of  Christianity 
was  issued  about  A.  D.  311.  A  thousand  years  after  this  the 
Ottoman  dynasty  arose,  which  carried  the  religion  of  Moham- 
med, shown  to  be  the  religion  of  Satan,  not  only  into  Persia  and 
the  extremities  of  the  Roman  Empire,  but  also  into  its  most 
central  and  powerful  parts,  Asia  and  Greece. 

8.  Here,  therefore,  by  Gog  is  to  be  understood  the  Ottoman 
family,  wjiich  first  showed  itself  in  that  part  of  Asia. 


•/^ 


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